The Complications of Life
by shana852963
Summary: Sequel to Recess Drama! Basically, the gang is continuing to adjust to the challenges that are being thrown at them. DO NOT READ BEFORE READING RECESS DRAMA! Story sounds better than summary.
1. Chapter 1

AN- Hey, brand new story! In case you haven't read the prequel to this, Recess Drama, I suggest you do so, or you'll be very lost. If you have, well then, I hope you enjoy!

_Vince's POV. _

Is there even a point to math? Really, when will I ever use this in my career as a basketball/baseball/track star?

And of course, the only thing that could make Ms. Richard's math class even worse is the fact that today is Monday.

"And if we substitute our new X value into the equation," Ms. Richards droned on as she enthusiastically scribbled away on the white board. "We can find our Y value! Any questions?" She looked around the classroom, not noticing that only one or two students even had their books open.

"Great, let's get started on the next problem!"

I let out a soft groan, and rested my head on my desk, trying hard not to fall asleep. I was exhausted. By the time I got home from baseball practice last nigh, I barely had time to scrounge together my _Macbeth _book report (which I sort of let go until the last minute…), let alone get any rest. I glanced at the clock, and let out another groan. Only ten minutes had passes since the start of class, and yet it feels like hours. This class always goes by slow. Not just because it's the most boring class I have, but it's also my last period.

"Vincent," Ms. Richards barked suddenly, making me jump. "I asked you a question."

Whoa, must have really zoned out; I hadn't heard a word she said. She continued to glare at me with her harsh stare she gave me all too often.

"Er, would you repeat the question please?" I asked sheepishly.

She sighed. "I suppose so. I had asked you what the quadratic formula is."

Crap! I guess that was in the homework I didn't do last night.

"Um, is it A squared plus B squared equals C squared?"

There was a light laughter around the room. "No Vincent," Ms. Richards said, rolling her eyes. That would be the Pythagorean Theorem. Completely irrelevant to what we are doing presently. I can see you have not been paying attention again in my class."

"That's not true," I lied. "I just, er, forgot that one."

"Really, just forgot it? Tell me Vincent, did you 'just forget' all the ones on our last test as well?"

Ouch! See, this is one of the reasons I hate Ms. Richards; she always targets me!

"Well, I guess so."

"Clearly," she said, pursing your lips. And with that, she gave me one last dirty look and turned back to the board, and began copying the next question.

At last, forty minutes later, the bell rang.

"Don't forget to do the first thirty problems in chapter eight!" Ms. Richards called after us as everybody scrambled for the exit.

My locker is at the other end of the school, so by the time I reached it, T.J. was already there waiting for me.

"Hey man," he greeted me.

"Hey," I replied, opening my locker to retrieve a few books.

"So you wanna go to the batting cages and hit a few balls together?" he asked.

"Can't, today's the one night of the week I don't have an practices, so Gretchen's going to attempt to help me get a passing grade in algebra," I told him.

T.J. let out a small laugh. "Ah yes, one of the perks of having a genius girlfriend."

I gave him a playful shove. "Yah, yah, whatever."

"So anyways," he continued. "My dad got me four tickets to the premiere of that movie that's coming out Friday, you know, the one where the girl gets her faced sucked off by killed bees from the planet Muzakyo, and I was thinking the us and the girls could go, kind of like a double date."

"Sure," I agreed. "That movie looks really good."

"Hey guys," Spinelli said, coming over to us, followed closely by Gretchen. We both planted short kisses on our girls, and then started to make our way towards the student parking lot to T.J.'s 1972 convertible, a gift he got form his parents and sister a couple of weeks ago for making the honor roll.

"So guess what," Gretchen said as T.J. pulled out of the school. "I talked to Mikey yesterday, he's getting out of the hospital next week."

"Really?" Spinelli asked. "I thought he had to spend a bunch of time in rehab?"

"He does, but he's doing that from some clinic in the next town. He's coming back to school too."

"I've really missed Mikey," I stated. "Lunch just isn't the same without betting him how many winger dingers he can stuff in his mouth."

"I know what you mean," T.J. said reminiscently.

A few minutes later, T.J. pulled up at my house, and Gretchen and I got out. After bidding the other two good-bye, I let us into the house.

"So you really think you can help me get at least a C in math Gretch?" I ask her as I set my books on the kitchen counter. "Because right now that's seeming a bit impossible."

She laughed. "Vince, trust me. I might even get you a B."

"Whoa there, I know your good, but you're no a miracle worker," I joked. "Want anything to eat?"

She shook her head. "My families going out to eat at the fancy new restaurant down the street from the Kelso's, so I'm saving room."

"Oh, I know that place," I commented, taking a seat and opening up my textbook. "My dad took my mom there last weekend, apparently it cost forty dollars for the soup."

"Yah I know, but my parents feel we never, to quote them, 'spend quality family time together'," she said.

"I get that all the time," I chuckled. "But look at it this way, you get a free steak dinner out of it."

She let out another laugh. God, I love her laugh…

"Okay," she said. "We'd better get to work. What's not making sense to you?"

"Um, everything?" I replied truthfully.

"Okay then," she said. "That complicates things a bit-"

I cut her off with a smooth kiss on her soft, moist lips. We stayed that way for a while, and then she broke away, grinning at me. "How do you expect to learn anything if we do this every five minutes? We did that last time and you got about five percent of your homework done!"

"Yah, but I really enjoyed myself," I said, rising my eyebrows suggestively.

Conceding, Gretchen rolled her eyes, and leaned in and let me place another long kiss onto her lips.

Really, I was one lucky guy.


	2. Chapter 2

_Gus's POV_

I've just about had it with everybody in the school giving Lauren disgusted looks whenever she walks past. It's like they think she's below them just because she made ONE mistake!

It has been six months since, well, "that night" and she's really starting to get big. I mean, she's still beautiful, but well, it's getting kind of hard to hug her normally…

Anyways, my time with Lauren is still limited to mainly school because of her relocation to her aunts house, and my having to go to night school to make up for the awful grades I earned last semester, but we're making the best of it.

I've also just got a job. It's not exactly my "dream job"; I'm washing cars down at Rusty's Motor Shop, but at least I'm saving something for when the baby comes (I'm close to 1500 dollars). Lauren hasn't said anything about keeping the baby, but I'd like to be prepared.

Even though it's the weekend, and I have absolutely nothing to do, I'm just sitting in my room, throwing wads of paper into my wastebasket.

I hear a knock at my door, and my mom enters with a pile of my laundry.

My mom is still pretty shocked about the whole pregnancy ordeal; she barely says a word to me anymore.

"Thanks," I said as she set my clothes down on my bed.

"Gus, we need to talk about, well, you know," she said, pursing her lips. "The baby."

I looked at her in surprise. This was the first time she had brought up the baby since I told her I got Lauren pregnant.

"What about the baby?" I asked, not knowing where this conversation was going.

"Well for starters, are you going to keep it?" she said, sitting down in my desk chair. "Or are you giving it up for adoption?"

"We-we haven't really talked about that yet," I admitted.

"Well you'd better," she said, crossing her arms. "She's what, five months along?"

"Six."

"Then you better reach a decision quickly so you can either find a family or start saving money!"

"I have a job mom," I told her. "Remember, down at Rusty's?"

"But that salary won't be nearly enough to support a child!" she exclaimed. "You'll need to call our health insurance tonight, and she should do the same with hers-"

"Her aunt's covering all of her medical expenses," I interrupted, not mentioning the fact that her mother and father kicked her out of their house.

"Well, okay then, but there is one more thing," she said, fidgeting with her hands nervously. "You do know that you need to tell your father about all of this."

"I know," I sighed. "I'm just worried about how he'll take it, you know? I mean this whole thing will probably mess up my military career.

"Don't say that Gus," she said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure things will work out; they'll just be different."

I smiled at her, hoping she was right.

* * *

My family hasn't eaten dinner together in months. What with my dad always running out of the house for work, my mom and I usually just make do with either take-out or leftovers. Tonight however, my mom went all out and prepared a suckling ham feast.

"Great meal honey," my dad said, cutting up his meat. "I forgot how good a home cooked meal could taste."

Mom smiled at him. "I'm just happy we're finally all eating a decent meal together."

"So son," my dad said, placing his fork down and looking right at me. "I was talking to Herloyd Bryce today, my military commander, and he seems to think you're a promising young lad. He says he may be interested in recruiting you this summer for his nine week training session."

Crap, Lauren's going to be due sometime during the summer. I can't just pack up and head off to some boot camp.

I avoided his eyes. "Um dad, I may be busy this summer."

"Doing what?" he demanded. "This will really help your career son, and remember, nothing is more important right now than your future."

"I know that dad," I started. "It's just well, I have, er, prior commitments I may need to attend to then."

"Cancel them," he said shortly.

"I can't exactly do that."

"What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "Dad, Lauren's going to have a baby."

Silence took over for nearly five minutes. My dad just stared straight ahead; finally, he broke the silence. "Is-Is it yours?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Hell," he said softly, covering his face with his hands. "You're in utter hell here Gus!"

His voice was rising fast. "You've ruined your whole goddamn life here! I've tried and tried to set up the best future for you, and you just go and blow it in one night!"

"Dad, I'm sorry-"

"Damn right you're sorry!" he shouted. "You've got no future now! You'll be supporting that kid on a minimum wage salary, because no decent job in their right mind will hire you!"

"Dad I-"

"And if you think for one second that I'm going to help you in any way raise this kid, you've got another thought coming to you!" he continued, now standing up. "Every cent will be coming from your pocket! Drop out of school if you want, I don't even give a damn anymore! You should be thankful I don't toss you out to live on the street like the bum you are!"

"Dear, calm down," my mother said, tears filling in her eyes.

"Did you know about this?" he shot at her. "Huh? Did you?"

"Well, yes," she started, looking scared. "But dear, the point is, we have a problem. We need to help Gus-"

"I will not be helping him!" he roared. "He got himself into this mess, and he get his goddamn self out of it! And I can see where our marriage has gone, keeping something like this from me!"

And with that, he stormed out of the room, leaving me just staring at his empty chair, and my mother with tears streaming down her face.


	3. Chapter 3

_Gretchen's POV_

I really need to get a car. I turned sixteen a month ago, and I still don't have my licenses. I usually get a ride from either T.J. or Spinelli, but T.J has to stay after school for baseball practice with Vince, and Spinelli has detention, leaving me to walk three miles to my house.

After saying bye to a few friends, I started down the sidewalk in the direction of my house.

"You really shouldn't be walking too far on your leg," a voice behind me said suddenly. I turned around and saw the last person in the world I wanted to see. My ex-boyfriend Lawson. He was driving his beat-up old car, and was slowing it down so he could keep up with my pace.

"I thought you needed to take it easy after your soccer accident last year," he continued.

I glared at him, and turned my back to him and continued along the sidewalk.

"Why don't you get a ride home from Detwiller or somebody else from your little group?" he asked.

"I wanted to walk," I sneered at him. "Now leave me alone."

"You want a ride?" he questioned, disregarding my request.

"I don't want anything to do with you," I said. "Seriously, leave me alone."

"Gretchen, I'm sorry about what I did to you last year," he said.

I stopped walking, and looked directly at him. "You're sorry? Is that all you can say?"

"I was being stupid," he sighed. "Look, get in the car, you really shouldn't be walking all the way on your bad leg."

"What part of leave me alone do you not get?" I demanded.

"Alright, alright," he gave in. "I'll go. But just so you know. I made a mistake ever letting you go. Make sure Lasall knows how lucky he is." And with that, he gave me a small smile and drove away.

I stood, rooted to the ground for a few seconds. I hadn't talked to Lawson since I discovered he had been cheating on me last year.

I hated Lawson with all my heart, but something about what he had just said made me feel a little different towards him, like back when we were dating….

_No! Snap out of it! _I told myself. _He was a jerk. And I'm with Vince, and I love him. _

After I got home, I went straight up to my room, and attempted to start on my homework. I couldn't concentrate.

Rolling my eyes in frustration, I looked at my clock. An hour and a half since school let out, detention would be over with by now…

Grabbing my cell phone, I dialed Spinelli's number. I needed to tell at least my best friend about what had just happened.

"Hello?"

"Spinelli, I'm really confused right now."

"You? That's a first. What could you possibly be confused about?"

"Okay, well, when I was walking home from school today, I saw Lawson."

"Lawson? That jerk? Did you punch his guts out for me?"

"Er, not quite. He offered to give me a ride home and-"

"You didn't let him did you?" she cut in.

"No, no, of course not. But then he kept talking and he, well, he apologized for last year."

"So what? That still doesn't change the fact that he was seeing that Ashley behind your back!"

"I know, but he sounded so sincere."

"Gretchen, I don't care if he got down on his knees and begged for forgiveness. He's still the worthless piece of trash he was a year ago. Guys like him don't change. Besides, you've got Vince now."

"I know. That's the problem. I think, maybe, I might possibly be falling for Lawson again."

"Did you listen to a word I just said? He hasn't changed Gretchen! Can't you see what he's doing to you? He's trying to warp you back into his trap with his sick mind games!"

"But-"

"Don't do this to Vince, Gretch," she continued. "He's in love with you."

"I love him too," I sighed. "Maybe this whole thing is just in my head. Maybe because I haven't seen Lawson in such a long time, by brain is playing tricks on me. I've read that the section in the human brain that controls emotions can sometimes-"

"And there we go," Spinelli laughed. "You're back to normal. Just don't talk to Lawson anymore and you'll be fine."

"Thanks Spin," I said gratefully. "And do me a favor. Don't tell the guys about this. And that includes T.J."

"Fine, fine. Hey I gotta go. I've got a Spanish test tomorrow that counts for thirty percent of my grade and I've got to cram."

"Oh, need any help?"

"Nah, my brother Joey is back home for a couple of weeks, and he's pretty good with languages. Thanks though. See you."

"Bye."

I hung up and tried again to do my homework, but the more and more I told myself not to think about Lawson, the more and more I did.


	4. Chapter 4

_Mikey's POV_

3 months, 3 weeks and 5 days. That's how long it's been since I've had any of those weight loss pills. 3 long months, 3 long weeks, and 5 excruciatingly long days.

I miss my house. I've been in this tiny little hospital room the whole time I've been here, and it's driving me insane. There's only one window, and it's facing this really depressing tree. It's completely bare, and probably only stands at around 4 feet. Who wants to look at that all day?

I'm supposed to be transferred to this special clinic for recovering drug addicts in a couple of weeks, once the doctors are completely satisfied with my physical health condition. Hopefully my room there will at least have a nice view.

I miss my friends a lot too. T.J., Vince, Gretchen and Spinelli visit me about once a week, sometimes twice. Of course, now that they're all dating each other, it's sort of weird, I mean, I can't really get used to seeing Vince hold Gretchen's hand, or T.J. put his arm around Spinelli, but guess I'll have to.

Gus comes in every once in awhile. I really have to admire him. He's working so hard right now, to provide for Lauren and his unborn child, even though he's only sixteen, not nearly old enough to have to worry about all that.

It's Tuesday. That means that the doctor will give me my weekly vaccination, since my immune system got pretty screwed up while I was on the drug, and later on, a nice nurse will come in and bring me a piece of meatloaf and a bowl of tomato soup.

I leaned back in my bed, and stared at the ceiling. I was trying to think of the final line to this new poem I was writing.

Here's what I had so far:

_The Sweet Rain comes,_

_And washes away my pain_

_But now there is a drought_

_So I shall live in Shame_

I'm waiting for that perfect line to come and just reach out to me. This is the first poem I've written since I started taking those pills.

There was a knock on my door, and my mother walked into the room.

"Hi sweetie," she said in her soothing voice. "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine mom," I assured her. It broke my heart to see her face every time she came to visit me. It reminded me of how much torture I must've put her through when I was on those weight loss drugs.

"You look a bit peaky, Mikey," she said, sitting down on the chair next to my bed. "I really don't like the sound of this hospital food. It simply isn't enough for a growing boy like you."

"Well, at least I'll be transferred to the clinic soon," I told her. "They might have better food."

"Let's hope so," she said. "By the way, your school called last night. You're all set to start online classes. So your father is out buying you a laptop right now so you can-"

"Mom, you didn't need to buy me a laptop," I said. "There's computers in the recreation room here." I knew how expensive laptops were, and my hospital bill had already taken a sizable chunk out of the family income.

"Oh don't be silly dear," my mother exclaimed, patting my arm lovingly. "You need to stay in bed and get your strength back. Besides, those hospital computers are probably terribly slow."

"But mom, they cost so much."

"Don't worry about that," she said. "Your grandma Edith and aunt Serena are helping us out right now. We've got it all taken care of."

I nodded. "If you say so."

My mom stayed for a few hours, talking about how things were going at her job (she worked as a pre-school teacher) and how she couldn't wait for me to come home.

When she left, I felt really lonely. I always do after she leaves. It was only six o'clock, but I still felt sort of tired, but I didn't want to go to sleep so early. I stared at my half-finished poem in my notebook, but still, nothing came to me.

I let out a breath and leaned back on my pillows. Yup, 3 months, 3 weeks, and 5 days sure was a long time…

* * *

AN- Sorry about the long wait for the update. I suffered from a combination of extreme writer's block and intensive laziness  But this chapter was basically just a little update on what's going on with Mikey, nothing too major….yet.


	5. Chapter 5

_Spinelli's POV_

Sweat dripped off my face as I dragged myself into the locker room. I had just finished up a 3 hour-long lacrosse practice, in preparation for our big game next week. The locker room was empty, since the rest of the team had left already; coach had kept me later than the rest so she could help me with this new scoring technique she came up with.

I took a quick shower, wincing at the always-cold water that came out, and began to dress. I had my jeans and bra on, when the door of the locker room opened again, and twenty girls came in. I let out a silent groan; I forgot the cheerleading team also practiced today. The Ashley's were all on the team, except for Ashley Q., of course, who didn't go to our school. They were the last ones to enter the locker room. They spotted me immediately, and gave me dirty looks. They were still pissed off that I had gotten Ashley A. suspended last year; a feat that I pride myself in.

I was pulling on my T-shirt, when I sew the three of them coming towards me.

"What do you want?" I snapped at them, twirling my hair into a simple ponytail.

"Why are you even here?" Ashley B. spat at me. "Didn't your butch lacrosse practice finish like, half an hour ago?"

"Well, you know, I just enjoy being at school so much I couldn't bring myself so early," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Whatever," Ashley T. said, rolling her eyes. "Just get out of here, so the cheerleaders can get dressed without having you stinking up the air."

"What a creative insult," I said, picking up my gym bag. "How long did it take you to come up with that one?" I left the three Ashley's fuming as I exited the locker room, and headed towards my car.

When I arrived home, I found my house to be empty. I spotted a note from my parents sitting on the kitchen counter, saying that they were having a business dinner with my dad's boss. I grabbed a left over carton of Chinese food and started upstairs to my room. I opened my door and flicked on the light, dropping my stuff on the chair by the door. I noticed that there was a gray box on my bed. Curious, I set down my food and went over to my bed to see what it was. I picked it up, but as soon as I realized what the box was, I dropped it. It was a box of condoms. Where the hell did those come from? I saw a small sheet of notebook paper sticking out from under the box. Still in shock, I read the paper.

_Dear Smookums,_

_I know what an odd sort of gift this must _

_seem like, but I am giving it to you because I care_

_about you. You and T.J. have been dating awhile now, and _

_I know that you must be getting certain urges. And while_

_I in no way encourage you and T.J. to engage in such_

_activities, I know that as teenagers, you will not listen to me. So_

_at least promise me that if you two do decide to go about this, _

_you will please use these._

_I know this must be embarrassing for you, which is why I decided to _

_leave you these in such a discrete manner. But if you have any questions,_

_ask me the second I get home._

_I love you smucky-pie!_

_Mom_

I stood there, stunned, re-reading the note to myself. Only my mother would do something like this. I picked up the box again, and after a moment of hesitation, I stuffed it in my sock drawer.

I had never _really _thought about mine and T.J.'s sex life. I mean, sure it crossed my mind once in awhile, but I had never stopped to contemplate the actual thought of _doing _it. But after all, we've been dating for close to five months now…

Maybe this is something me and T.J. should sit down and discuss, face to face. I glanced out my window, across the street to T.J.'s house, and saw him just pulling into his driveway. He had been at his sisters', helping her paint her new apartment downtown.

Since I obviously wasn't going to be able to think of anything else for the rest of the day, I decided to go over to T.J.'s house now and talk to him.

I walked quickly across the street, and knocked on his door.

"Hey Spin," T.J. greeted me as he opened the door. "I was just about to come over to your place."

I decided not to beat around the bush; the whole "sex" issue was raging around in my head.

"I need to talk to you," I said, stepping inside the house.

His face fell a little. "Oh?"

I saw that no one was home in the house, so I chose to say it right there: "Do you think we should be having sex?"

T.J.'s eyes widened, and his face turned red. "Wh-what?"

"It's just," I started. "We've be dating for awhile now, and I kinda began thinking…"

"Um, wow," T.J. said, fiddling with his hat in an awkward sort of way. "I guess I've been sort of, you know, thinking of it too."

"So?" I said, looking directly in his eyes. "Should we? You can say no if you want, I won't get mad or anything like-"

"Yes," he said abruptly, cutting me off. "I want to, but only if you really think your ready."

I nodded. "I am."

"Now?" he whispered, running his fingers through my hair.

I nodded again.

He grinned, and took my hand in his, and started to lead me up the stairs to his room. But just when we had our feet on the first step, the front door suddenly opened and T.J.'s mom walked in with an armload of groceries.

"Oh, hello Spinelli dear," she said, setting the groceries on a nearby table. "I didn't know you were here."

"She just got here," T.J. said. "She had to, er, borrow my English book, because hers' er,…"

"Fell in the lake behind my house," I said, smoothly finishing up his lie.

"Oh, okay," she said, buying our story. "Would you like to stay for dinner Spinelli? I'm making roast chicken and potatoes, and I know that's your favorite."

"I would love to," I said, "But my brother is home from college, and tonight he said he would take me out for dinner, thanks anyways Mrs. Detwiller."

"I told you, call me Cynthia," she said. "You're practically family! And I'm glad your spending quality time with your brother, it's very important, for siblings to keep close bonds. Speaking of which, T.J., you helped Becky with her apartment walls, right?"

"Yah, it was real fun," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I'd better start putting these groceries away," T.J.'s mom said, picking up the bags again. "Nice seeing you Spinelli."

"You two," I replied.

Once she was out of earshot, T.J. whispered in my ear, "Tomorrow?"

"Defiantly," I whispered back.

He gave me a kiss good bye, and then I headed back across the street to my house, anxiously awaiting tomorrow's arrival.

* * *

AN- SOooooooo sorry about the long wait, I'll try really hard to update the next chapter sooner!


	6. Chapter 6

_T.J.'s POV_

The second Spinelli left, I rushed upstairs and into my room, locking my door behind me. I lied down on my bed, and stared up at the ceiling; the events of the last few minutes still rushing around inside my head.

Spinelli and I had come so close to actually having sex with each other. I still could not believe that. If my mom hadn't chosen that exact minute to return home, we would've actually done it.

I have to admit though; I was kind of startled when Spinelli asked me about it. I tried not to let it show that much, I mean, I didn't want her to think I wasn't interested, because believe me, I was interested, but well, I don't think I was really expecting her to suggest it so soon in our relationship.

True, we have been going out for a while now, but was sex really the next best step? I took my hat off, and started playing with it like I always did when I was thinking deeply about something. Spinelli was my first serious girlfriend, and I really liked her. She was beautiful, easy to talk with, fun to be around, and just all around amazing. And we kissed a lot. Every day pretty much. But having sex? That was something completely different. What if after he did it, things changed between us? What if it turns out that we both weren't really ready for it, but it's already too late? Man, that would change everything! I got off my bed and walked over to my window, and looked across the street and Spinelli's house. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I really wasn't ready for sex. But Spinelli evidently was. I sighed, remembering what I had said right before Spinelli left; that we would do it tomorrow. What was I supposed to say to her now? "Oh, sorry Spin, I changed my mind about having sex with you."? I don't know how she would react to that. She might take it the wrong way and think I'm not interested in her anymore. Who knows, maybe she'd even break up with me!

I don't think I could take it if Spinelli broke up with me. She means everything to me. No, I'm going to have to go about this whole situation very carefully…


	7. Chapter 7

_Vince's P.O.V_

Third period had just gotten out, and I made my way over to my locker. I quickly opened the lock, and began throwing my books sloppily into my locker. T.J. wouldn't be at his locker next to mine for another two or three minutes, so I slammed my locker shut, and leaned back against the other lockers to wait for him.

But then, I glanced to my left, and saw that slime-bag Lawson at his locker a few down from mine. I narrowed my eyes. I hated that guy even more than I had in elementary school. Between him dating Gretchen before me, and then cheating on her with Ashley, that guy was the biggest loser I have ever met. He looked over at me, but I kept on staring right at him, refusing to back down. He didn't do anything though. He just gave me quick wink, and then headed off down the hallway to his next class.

_What the heck?_ I thought to my self. _That was weird. _

"Hey man," T.J. said, coming over to me. "What's up?"

"Lawson just _winked _at me," I said, frowning. "Wonder what that was about."

"Probably just trying to mess with your mind," T.J. shrugged. "You know how he is."

"Yah," I said slowly. "You're probably right."

"Anyways, Vince," T.J. said, as we started our way to study hall. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure man, what is it?"

"Get detention with me this afternoon."

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why would I _want_ to get detention? Besides, I have basketball practice after school."

"Aw, can't you just skip it?" T.J. begged.

"No way, coach would skin me alive, we got districts next week. Why do you want detention anyways?"

"It's a long story," T.J. said as we entered our classroom and took our seats in the back.

Luckily, study hall was the best place to have a conversation, because as long as you didn't give our teacher any trouble, she would let you do basically whatever you wanted for the period.

"Well," T.J. began, yesterday, Spinelli came over to my house."

"Right," I nodded. "And…"

"She, asked me if I wanted to," he lowered his voice. "Have sex."

"What?" I exclaimed. "No way!"

"I'm serious," he said.

"Well, did you?"

"We were going to," he said. "But then my mom came home, so we sort of decided we'd do it today."

"Today? Well why in the hell would you want to get detention today?"

"Because," he said, looking down. "I'm not really sure I want to now."

"Oh," I said. There was a short awkward pause between us.

"But, can't you just tell her that?" I spoke up after a minute or two.

"No," he said, looking back up. "I mean, what am I supposed to tell her? That I don't want to do it? She might think I'm not interested."

"I'm sure she would understand," I said.

"I don't know Vince," he said. "And anyways, I'm the guy. I'm supposed to want this to happen. Doesn't it make me sound like sort of a wimp to just back out like this?"

"I don't know man," I said. "I don't really think I'm the best guy to talk to about this. I mean, Gretchen and me haven't even talked about anything like this. Why don't you try asking Gus. He's already, you know…"

"Yah," T.J. said, nodding. "That's a good idea."

After school and basketball practice, I decided to go over to Gretchen's house to try to get a little bit of my algebra homework done with her. I knew in reality we would just end up making out for most of the night, but I might as well try. The walk to her house took a little over a half an hour. When I reached the house, I rang the bell, and Gretchen answered.

"Hey," she said, letting me in.

"Hey, sorry I didn't call," I said. "My cell battery is dead, but you think you can try to explain this algebra nonsense to me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Nonsense?" she said playfully. "Vince LaSalle, you should no better than to insult math in front of me. Math is the very basis of human civilization. Without it, human life as we know it would crumble."

"Oh of course," I said, rolling my eyes. "Because I really need to know how to solve for X in my career as a sports star."

Needless to say, little studying went on. We finished a couple problems once her parents got home, and we had to stop out make out session.

By the time I got home, it was a little past ten. I showered quickly, threw together the last paragraph of my history essay, and went to bed. As a lied under my covers, all I could think about was Gretchen, and how much I loved her. Then it occurred to me. Gretchen and I had never said those three words to each other! I sat up in bed. I mean, I knew I loved Gretchen, hell, I loved her way before we even started dating. But Gretchen didn't know this, and I didn't know if Gretchen felt as strongly for me as I did for her! _I have to tell her_, I thought to myself. Tomorrow, I will tell Gretchen Grundler I love her.

AN- hey long time no update… sorry about that But if you guys wouldn't mind doing one thing… can you send me a review telling me what your fave subplot is? Gus and Lauren getting pregnant, Mikey's struggle in rehab, Spin and T.J's "near-encounter" or Vince and Gretchen's bumpy relationship? Thanks!


	8. Chapter 8

_Gus's POV_

My dad's staying at some motel a couple miles out of town. He's been there for five days so far, and hasn't called us or anything. I don't know what this means for my parents' marriage; whether they'll get a divorce or just stick it out, but I do know it will never be the same; I've never seen my dad as furious as the night he stormed out. I feel guilty about it, I mean, my mom cried for hours after he left.

I've been picking up more hours at work, and am now working every weekend, all day. I had just pulled into my driveway after a particularly hard day, and walked into my house. My mom was probably still at work; she held a job as an assistant manager down at some clothing store at the mall. I grabbed myself a quick snack from the kitchen, then headed into my room to finish up an essay for night school, and maybe take a stab at some math problems. I had just finished the last sentence of the essay, and was just about to print it out when my cell phone rang. I fished it out of my pocket and the caller ID revealed that it was Lauren.

"Hey," I said answering. "Everything alright?"

"Yah, everything's fine," she replied. "But are you busy?"

"Not really, why?"

"Do you think you could maybe swing by here?" By here I knew she meant he Aunt's place.

"Sure, but what for?"

"I just want to talk to you."

"Um, alright I guess. I'll leave in just a few minutes, see you then."

"Thanks Gus, I love you."

"Love you too."

We hung up. I quickly saved my essay on my laptop, figuring I would just print it out when I got home, changed out of my work clothes, and started back to my car. The drive to Lauren's aunts house was about a thirty-minute drive from my place. By the time I got there, the sky had darkened, and the moon was just starting to show itself. I knocked on the door and a minute later Lauren's aunt answered the door.

"Hello, Gus," she said politely, smiling at me as she let me in.

"Hello Mrs. Cooke," I greeted her. "Lauren said she wanted to see me."

I liked Mrs. Cooke. She didn't judge Lauren for getting pregnant, and was totally supportive of whatever Lauren wanted.

"Well she's upstairs in her room," she told me. "Third door on your right."

I thanked her, and then headed up the steps and into Lauren's room. I knocked on her door, and a second later Lauren opened her door and kissed me hello.

"You're the best for driving all the way here," she said as we pulled apart. I took a look at her. At school she usually tried to hide her swollen belly with thick sweaters and baggy T-shirts, but now she only had on a tank top and a pair of pajama pants, so I could see the full size of her abdomen; and it was pretty large.

"So what's up?" I questioned, sitting down next to her on her bed.

She took a deep breath. "Gus, the baby's going to be here in less than three months, you realize that, right?"

"I know," I nodded.

"So we _really_ need to figure out what's going to happen after I have it."

"You mean whether or not we put it up for adoption?"

She nodded. "Have you given it any thought?"

"Um, well, not really. I thought you would just do what you want to do, you know?"

"Gus, for Pete's sake, just because I'm the one carrying this thing doesn't mean that I have to make every decision. The baby's yours too, you have to put some say into what we do!"

I sighed. "Well, I mean, hypothetically, if we were to keep the baby, where would we live? My dad flat out told me he wouldn't support the kid, and your parents kicked you out of the house."

"My aunt talked to me last night," Lauren said softly. "She said if we chose to keep the baby, we were welcome to stay here. She would help me turn one of the spare rooms into a nursery, and she would even look after it when we were at school or work."

"Wow," I said. "That's-that's really nice of her."

Lauren showed a small smile. "She was pregnant when she was 16 also. I mean, she didn't have her baby, but she knows how it feels."

There was a short silence. "So, you haven't heard from your parents, then?"

She shook her head. "No, not since they kicked me out." A tear fell from her eye.

"Aw, Lauren, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no, don't worry about it. I'm adjusting. I mean, well, I don't think it will be something I ever fully get over, but well, I have my aunt, and I have you."

I put my arm around her.

"The only thing I really miss is my little sister," she said quietly. "My parents probably didn't even tell her I'm not coming home, and she was sleeping over at a friends house the night they kicked me out, so I didn't even get to say good-bye."

"I'm sure you'll see her again."

"Yah, I highly doubt I'll be seeing her anytime soon, my parents will be sure of that. Maybe in a couple of years when she's older she'll be able to come here and visit me on her own."

"Um, so back to the baby," I said, clearing my throat. "You realize that keeping it means a lot more than just having a place for it to live?"

"Yes, I know that. We'd still have to manage to afford the crib and diapers and all that, so we'd need to come into some more money, even with you working at that car place. Not to mention we'd have no lives. We'd go to school, work, then back here with the baby."

"True," I said. "Plus we wouldn't be able to go to college."

"Oh that's right," Lauren said softly. "You wanted to get into the military school."

"Don't worry about that now," I said quickly. "Right now this is about the baby."

"Well, I guess I could always try to earn a degree online," she said. "But Gus, it's your dream to go to that school, and I'm not letting you throw it away. You can go, even if we do decide to keep the baby. It's not that far from here, maybe an hour drive from here, you can drive down on weekends…"

"And leave you with the baby for the other five days? That doesn't seem fair. Lauren, I can get into the school later, when the baby starts school or something. Until then I think the best thing for me to do would to just stay here, maybe start working full time to earn more money."

"Unless we decide to go with adoption," she spoke up. "Remember, we have that choice also. There's this website that has lots families looking to adopt listed. We could always check out some of them."

"Right," I nodded. "And come to think of it, those families would probably be better prepared for a baby."

"Yah. But we need to decide soon, either way."

"How soon?"

"I'd say by the end of the month, at the latest."

I nodded. "Okay. We'll both think about until then, I guess."

"Gus," she said suddenly, picking up my hand. She moved it onto her stomach. "Feel the baby kicking?"

I did. It was a gentile thump against the palm of my hand. My unborn child giving us a sign it was okay. The baby must've gotten tired, though, for the kicking stopped after a minute.

"Wow," I said, grinning at my girlfriend. "It's really in there, isn't it?"

"Yup," she said.

I left an hour later; it was getting late, and I didn't want to get in more trouble by staying out past curfew. I got back to my house a few minutes before eleven. My mom was home, sitting on the couch, eating a frozen dinner.

"Where were you?" she asked, not looking at me.

"Lauren's aunts house," I replied.

She nodded, and said no more. I opened my mouth, in an attempt to start up a conversation, but at the last second I decided not to. Instead I silently slipped back into my room, and collapsed onto my bed. The end of the month was only a little over two weeks away. I had until then to figure out what was going to happen to that baby… My thoughts were interrupted then by the ringing of my cell phone. I flicked it open and saw that it was T.J. calling.

"Hello," I said, accepting the call.

"Hey Gus, man," T.J. greeted me. "How you've been?"

"Okay I guess, just busy. What's up?"

"Um, you mind if I ask you a question?"

"I guess not."

"It-it's kind of personal. I'd totally understand if you didn't want to answer it."

"What's the question?"

"It's only that I didn't know who else to ask, you were the only one I could think of who would really understand and…"

"T.J. just spit it out already!"

"Okay, okay." He took a deep breath. "Me and Spinelli were thinking about _maybe_ possibly, you know, _doing it._"

"Doing it? As in _doing it_?"

"Yah."

"Oh," I stammered, slightly taken aback. "Well, um, that-that's great?"

"Yah only I'm not sure I'm ready," he said. "She just came over to my house a couple of days ago and asked me if I thought we should."

"What did you say?"

"Well, she caught me off guard, so I just sort of agreed. What was I supposed to do? Reject her? I can't do that! So anyways, what I was calling to ask you about is, well, how did you feel right before you and Lauren…"

I shifted awkwardly on my bed. "Well…I guess I felt like, you know, like it was natural."

"Natural?"

"I don't really know how to explain it. I just kind of didn't think all that too much about it. I just asked her if she was ready, and the next second, well, we were…"

"Right, right," he said quickly. "See, I don't think I feel that way just yet. Don't get me wrong, I love Spinelli and all, but, I _really_ don't think I want to do it right now."

"T.J., trust me, you've both got to be ready for it. Otherwise things can get really weird in your relationship and it could be ruined! If I was in your position, I'd just talk to Spinelli, tell her this. She'll understand."

"I don't know…"

"T.J., if you end up doing it just to please her, even though you didn't really want to, you'll end up regretting it for the rest of your life."

He sighed. "You're right, Gus. I guess I'll just have to talk to her."

"Good."

"So, how's Lauren?"

"She's doing all right, I just got back from her place. Hey T.J., I'd love to sit and catch up, but I have about five tons of homework here I need to have done by Monday, so…"

"Oh, right. I'll see you around then, thanks for the advice Gus, I owe you big time."

"No problem. Bye."

"Bye."

We hung up, and I tossed down my phone. I didn't really have that much homework due Monday, but I just didn't really want to talk to T.J. about Lauren. True, him and the gang have been supportive of Lauren and me ever since they found out, (Spinelli had gotten a weeks worth of detention for punching some girl that was making snide comments about Lauren behind her back) but right now, the only thing on my mind was making the decision that could possibly change my life even more.

AN- Thanks so much for your reviews and telling me your favorite subplot, you guys are the best; it really motivated me to get this chapter done


	9. Chapter 9

_Gretchen's POV_

It was nearing midnight, and I was trying hard to stay awake, as I typed away at my computer, working on my AP Chemistry paper. Chemistry was my best subject, but my teacher, Dr. Medrocus, was very hard. I wanted my paper to be flawless, so I could maintain my average in that class. So far I had done four drafts. I sighed as I reread my thesis statement, trying to think of a better way to introduce the fundamental uses of molecular geometry. Suddenly, I heard my phone vibrate over on my bed; telling me I had just gotten a text message. Still trying to phrase another thesis in my head, I grabbed my phone and opened my inbox. I frowned when I saw whom the message was from, and my Chemistry paper was erased from my mind. It was from Lawson. After a minute's contemplation, I opened up the message. It simply read **Hey, what's up?**

_Hey what's up_? I repeated angrily to myself. Why was my cheating ex-boyfriend asking me "what's up" at twelve in the morning? I slid my phone shut. No way was I going to respond to that; I mean, did he really expect me to? I shook my head, trying to get back to my Chemistry paper, but it was no use, I couldn't get the text out of my mind. Figuring I would just finish working on the paper the next night, I shut off my computer and climbed into my bed. I didn't sleep soundly at all, and when my alarm clock went off at six, I felt drowsy and exhausted. I quickly dressed and dragged myself into the kitchen. My parents had already left for work, so I poured myself a bowl of cereal. I sat in complete silence, thoughtfully chewing on my cornflakes when I heard Spinelli honk her horn outside my house, as she did every morning.

"Hey Gretch," she greeted me as I slid into the passenger side of her car.

"Hey," I replied.

"You okay? You look awful."

"Gee, thanks," I said, rubbing sleep out of my eyes. "I didn't get much sleep last night. You know who texted me?"

"Who?"

"Lawson."

"What!" Spinelli nearly bumped into the old couple in the car ahead of us.

"Watch it," I said. "Yah. He texted me a midnight last night, and well, I guess it's just been sort of toying with my mind."

"What did he say?"

"He asked me what's up."

"What's up? He asked you what's up? What's the matter with that idiot?"

"I know! I mean, why would I want to talk to him after what he did to me when we were dating?"

"Exactly," Spinelli nodded. "He's such a jerk, Gretch. Hopefully he'll get the message when he doesn't hear back from you. I mean, you didn't reply, right?"

"Of course not," I said.

"Good. You know, he's probably trying to get back with you."

"What? That's insane."

"I dunno… You said he tried to give you a ride home that one day, right? And then he apologizes for cheating on you, and now he's sending you late night texts? I think someone needs to straighten him out; I can get some of the girls from girls from my lacrosse team to help me with that…"

"You're not beating him up, Spin," I said, rolling my eyes. "You know, maybe we're overreacting to this. I mean, maybe he sent me that text by mistake."

"Gretchen-"

"Yah, that's probably what happened. He probably meant to send that to someone else."

"If you say so," Spinelli said. "Just be careful, Gretch."


	10. Chapter 10

_Mikey's POV_

Today is the day I get transferred from the hospital into the special clinic for recovering drug addicts. I'm excited to be leaving the dull hospital room, but also pretty nervous about staying in a facility where over a hundred people who used to be addicted to worse drugs than I was would be staying. My mom would be driving me over to the clinic. She was currently signing my release papers and filling out insurance forms in an office downstairs.

There was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called, expecting it to be one of the nurses, trying to do one last check-up on me. But to my surprise, Gretchen and Spinelli came in.

"Hi you guys," I greeted them. "I didn't know you were coming, not that I'm not glad to see you, though."

"We wouldn't miss the big day," Spinelli said, grinning. "Finally getting out of this jail cell."

"I'm moving to a recovery clinic, Spinelli," I reminded her. "I'm not exactly free yet."

"But don't they have a sort of out-patient program?" Gretchen asked.

I nodded. The clinic was going to let me spend weekends at home, so long as I consented to a drug test the second I checked back into the clinic. "But I'm still going to miss hanging out with you guys at school everyday."

"You won't be in there forever," Spinelli pointed out. "Before you know it, you'll be back with your buds, hanging at Kelso's in no time."

"Oh, don't mention Kelso's," I moaned wistfully. "I haven't had on of their root beer floats in ages!"

Spinelli and Gretchen exchanged grins. Gretchen carefully zipped open her backpack to reveal a perfectly contained extra-large root beer float with the works.

"You guys are the greatest!" I exclaimed, anxiously taking a big sip of the delicious drink.

"Mr. Kelso said he misses you," Gretchen said. "He says that he'd visit you, but by the time he closes the store every night, visiting hours are over."

"Tell him I miss him too. Hey, where are T.J. and Vince?"

"They have a baseball game over at Rodgers' High," Spinelli explained. "But they told us to tell you they'd visit you at the clinic first thing tomorrow."

"Awesome," I nodded.

My mom came walking into the room then, followed by a nurse wheeling a wheelchair.

"Alright Mikey," my mom said happily. "It's time to go. Oh, hello girls," she said, spotting Gretchen and Spinelli. "So nice of you to drop by to visit."

"Hi Mrs. Blumburg," they replied.

"You all packed?" the nurse questioned, opening the drawers to the bedside table.

"Yup," I nodded over to small backpack at the foot of my bed, packed with the few things I was allowed to have in the hospital.

"We'd better get going then," Spinelli said. "We'll see you tomorrow, Mikey."

"Yah," Gretchen nodded. "Hope you like it at the clinic. You'll be fine."

"Bye you guys," I waved.

"Into the chair," the nurse told me as Gretchen and Spinelli exited the room.

"Why do I need to be in a wheelchair?" I questioned. "I _can_ walk, you know."

"It's just protocol, sweetie," my mom said gently. "All discharged patients have to leave in them."

"Okay," I conceded, settling down in the chair.

The nurse wheeled me through the gleaming white hallways of the hospital and out to the front of the building, where my mom's car was parked. The nurse stayed until I was fully in the car with my seatbelt on, before retiring back into the building.

"You're dad's waiting for us at the clinic," my mom told me as she started her engine. "He'll have you all checked in, so that way as soon as we arrive you can go straight up to your room."

"Okay," I said, staring out the window.

"You nervous?"

"A little."

"It's going to be fine, Mikey, you'll see. The nice people at the clinic are going to help you, and then in just ten weeks you'll be home again!"

I couldn't wait for that. It had been so long since I had seen my room that I had nearly forgotten what it looks like.

"Plus, you'll be home every weekend," she continued. "And I hear they have a garden you can walk through, and a library with tons of nice books."

"Sounds better than the hospital, at least."

It was about a ten-minute drive to the clinic. The building was five stories, and had those old fashioned revolving doors. I saw my dad standing at the front desk with a suitcase he had brought from home for me.

"Hi, dad," I said, looking around the lobby.

"Hey son," he said, giving me a one armed squeeze.

"Is he all checked in?" my mom asked my dad.

"Yup, everything's set up. His room is on the second floor."

"Well come on then, let's go see it!" My mom cheerfully picked up the suitcase and led us over to the elevator.

When we got to the second floor, there was a long line of doors, and a counter in which several workers scurried around busily behind.

"Here we are," my dad said, opening the door right next to the elevator. "Room 213."

The room certainly was nicer than the hospital room. The bed was a little bigger, covered with ocean blue sheets. There was a small window next to it, and at I could see out into the garden.

"How lovely," my mom said, looking around. "I love the view."

There was a quick knock at the door, and a young looking man in a white doctor's jacket came in.

"Hello, Mikey is it?" he said pleasantly.

"Hi," I said, shaking his outstretched hand.

"How do you like your room?" he asked.

"It's nice," I replied.

"Great. I'm Dr. Hartmen. I'll be your main doctor while you're here."

"We're pleased to meet you," my mom said.

"Now, I'm just going to tell you a few of the clinic's rules, and then I'll leave you to unpack and get settled. Firstly, you'll be required to attend a group therapy session once a week in the main hall downstairs. Second, the staff is permitted to search your room at any time, that's just procedure. Last, but certainly not least, when you return each weekend, you'll be subjected to a drug test, which I'm sure you already knew."

"Yup."

"Well then," Dr. Hartmen said, clapping his hands together. "That's all. If you need anything, just ask one of the doctors at the desk down the hall." And with that he gave my parents and me a fleeting wave, and left us alone, shutting the door behind him.

"Well he seems very friendly," my mom said, fluffing one of my pillows.

"Hey Mikey, how about we go and check out the library? I've bet they've got some poetry books, and you know what a sucker I am for a good haiku."

I smiled. I couldn't have asked for more supportive parents.


	11. Chapter 11

_Spinelli's POV_

It was Saturday morning, and I was right on schedule. I had my bowl of sugary cereal, changed into a pair of old sweats and a T-shirt, and was parked right in front of the television getting to right my traditional "Saturday Smack down!" wrestling match.

"Morning Pookey," my mom greeted me, as she shuffled into the living room in yet another one of her eccentric outfits.

"Morning," I replied. "Mom, you're not actually going out in that, are you?"

"What's wrong with it?" she questioned, staring down at her leopard-print pants and black striped shirt. "I think it makes me look lively."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes. I've long gotten used to dealing with the embarrassment of living with my parents. "Where are you going, anyways?"

"Your grandmas, she's finally getting a computer, and seeing as she barely speaks English, I've got to be there when they deliver it to her so I can explain what everything is to her."

"Tell her I said 'hi'."

"Will do. Your fathers in the basement working on the hot water heater so don't take a shower! Love you Smokems!" And with that she ran out the door.

There was only one round left of the match, and it was clear that Iron Ike from the Old Country was going to cream Meaty Mel, so I muted the show, and dialed T.J.'s number of my phone. I hadn't seen my boyfriend that much this week, so I wanted to see if he could come over and hang out.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Teje, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out today?"

"Oh, gee, Spin, that sounds like fun, really, but I'm kind of booked today."

"Booked? With what?"

"Oh, you know, baseball practice, homework, and then I have to drive into the city to visit my aunt, so I probably won't get back until midnight."

"Okay, what about tomorrow?"

"Um, I'm not sure, I'll call you back and tell you. Well, I've got to go Spinelli, see you later."

Before I could get another word in, he hung up his phone.

I frowned. That was weird. Since when did T.J. have baseball practice on Saturday? Or care about his homework? And from what I remember, his aunt's been traveling in Europe for the past two weeks. Why was T.J. avoiding me?

Suddenly, it clicked. He's been acting like this ever since that one day when we almost had sex!

I pounded my forehead with my fist. Damn it, I had scared him off!

Why had I been so upfront about the whole subject? Thinking back, rushing off to his house and asking him point-blank if we should be having sex probably wasn't the best way to approach the idea.

The worse part, too, was that I was only going to do it because I thought he wanted to. But now that I see that he obviously doesn't want to, this whole thing could've been avoided!

I flopped back on the couch, trying to figure some way to fix this mess.

"What are you doing watching wrestling with the sound off?" came my dad's voice from behind me.

"Oh, hi dad," I said, turning the volume back up. "It just came back from commercial, that's all."

"Boy, that Iron Ike really did a number of that Meaty Mel, didn't he? Look, the poor guy can barely limp out of the ring!"

"Yah, it was a great fight," I said distractedly.

"Hey, what's wrong gumdrop?" my dad asked me, sensing my distress. "You never act this calmly about wrestling."

"It's nothing, I'm still just waking up," I lied. "I think I'll go back to bed."

"Are you sure? You're going to miss the match against Crusher and The Boulder."

"I'll record it," I said, getting up. "Have fun with your water heater."

I ran up to my room, lay down on my bed, and buried my head in my pillow. I wanted to talk to T.J., and set things straight with him, but I didn't even know what to say. Anyway, even if I _did_ figure out something to say to him, he'd probably just runaway before I could say it to him.

Then a terrible thought crossed my mind; _what if T.J. broke up with me over this? _I couldn't even begin to think of how that would feel. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. No, it couldn't end like this; over just one big understanding, could it?


	12. Chapter 12

_T.J's POV_

"There," I said, dragging the last box of my sister's stuff into her new apartment. "That's the last of it."

"Thanks, bro," Becky said, ruffling my hair playfully. "This place is going to look so great when it's all finally unpacked!"

"Yah, it's a nice place," I agreed. "By the way, did I leave my baseball bag here yesterday? I've been looking for it everywhere."

"Oh yah, you left on the balcony."

"Thanks," I replied, running out the sliding glass door to retrieve my bag. "Um, hey Becky? If I ask you something, can you promise not to tell mom and dad about it?"

"Hmmm," my sister said thoughtfully. "I guess so. What's up?"

"Well, you know how me and Spinelli have been dating for a few months now, right?"

She nodded.

"It's just well, the other day she asked me if we should…you know…be doing…_that_."

"Oh," Becky said knowingly. "Gotcha. So what did you say?"

"Well, I said yes, but-"

"T.J. you _did it_? That was completely irresponsible of you! I would've thought you would know better after what happened to your little friend Gus and all and-"

"Calm down," I said, interrupting her screaming fest. "Mom got home before we even made it upstairs. But see, the thing is, now I _don't_ think I'm ready for it."

"Oh," Becky said, relieved. "Thank God. I thought my baby brother actually lost his virginity at sixteen."

"But Spinelli still wants to do it!" I told her. "And I don't know what to say know without hurting her feelings or something! So lately I've just been kind of avoiding her and all-"

Becky slapped my arm. "Typical man. A problem comes along and you just run from it instead of confronting it. How do you think that's been making poor Spinelli feel, T.J.? Have you even thought about that?"

"Well, no," I admitted. "But I don't know what to do!"

"Here's an idea, genius; tell her the truth. She'll understand, and it's better than just avoiding her for forever."

"But I'm the guy," I said, exasperated. "Isn't it usually the girl that isn't ready for this? She'll probably think I'm weaker than her and then she'll break up with me-"

"Whoa there," Becky laughed. "I think you're going a _little_ overboard there, bro, she's not going to break up with you over not having sex with her. Besides, who says the boy always has to be ready for it? This is the twenty-first century here. You remember my ex-boyfriend, Leroy?"

I nodded.

"Well, after our first date, he walked me back to my door, and when I went into kiss him goodnight, he turned away. He did that for like five dates before he finally kissed me!"

"Well, you broke up with him, didn't you?"

"Yah, but that's because he turned out to be gay…"

I hit my head against the wall. "Great…so now I'm gay?"

"No, you're not gay, T.J., the point is that even though Leroy wanted to take things slower than I did, I never thought any less of him; I still thought he was a great boyfriend…Until I caught him sliding into third with the mailman, but that's another story."

"You really think she won't be upset with me?" I asked, uncertainly.

"Absolutely, I know Spinelli, T.J., she's practically my little sister! She would never dump you like that! But if you keep avoiding her she might…"

"Right," I nodded. "Thanks, Beck. I'll see you later."

I grabbed my car keys from my pocket and hurried out to my car to see Spinelli and settle this whole mess.


	13. Chapter 13

_Vince's POV_

I was such a whimp! For the past two weeks, I have been trying to tell Gretchen I loved her. It's a lot harder than it sounds. Every time I started to say it, my tongue seemed to swell to three times its normal size, and the words just got stuck in my throat.

Tonight had to be the night, though. We were going out to celebrate my recent 92% on my math test at some fancy restaurant just outside town. Since neither Gretchen nor me have cars, I had to talk my dad into lending me his, which he rarely ever does, but he was happy about my A as well, so he gave in.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I had on a suit I borrowed from my brother, and a red tie. I usually don't wear ties, but the shirt was missing a button, and I could find another one, so I figured the tie would cover the small hole.

_Okay, Champ, _I told myself, combing my hair. _You can do it. It's just three little words: I love you. I love you. Come on, you can do it; you've said it before…to your mom, but still. _

I looked at my watch. Our reservations were in forty-five minutes, so I figured I should probably go pick up Gretchen.

"Hey, Dad," I said, walking into the living room. "Could I have the keys now."

"You'll be very careful with it, right?" he asked, reluctantly getting his keys out of his pocket.

"Yes, dad. I'll stop at every yellow light, drive at the exact speed limit, and park at least thirty feet away from any tree."

"That's my boy," he said, finally handing me the keys. "Remember, be a gentleman to your girlfriend. You don't want to mess up your first serious relationship."

"Gee, thanks," I said. "Well, I should be back by eleven; Gretch and I might try and catch a movie or something after dinner."

"That's fine. Have fun, son."

Gretchen lives about ten minutes from me. I parked in the driveway, and headed up to the front door. Her dad answered the door when I knocked.

"Hello, Vincent," he said in a very business-like voice.

"Hello Mr. Grundler," I replied politely. "I'm here to pick up Gretchen."

"She's almost ready," he said. He looked at my dad's car in his driveway. "Is that your car, Vincent?"

"No, sir. It's my dad's. He's letting me borrow it for the night."

"I see," he said. "And you've had your driver's license how long now?"

"Er, three months."

I could tell that he was less than impressed. I always felt awkward around Gretchen's dad, but I figured that was normal.

"Hey, Vince," Gretchen said, coming down the stairs.

She was wearing a simple blue long-sleeve shirt and a short white skirt. Her long hair fell almost to her waist.

"You'll have her back no later than 10:30, won't you?" her dad asked.

"Sure thing, sir."

"Bye, dad," Gretchen said.

"You know," she said, as we walked to the car. "You don't have to call my dad _sir_."

"He's kind of intimidating," I pointed out.

She laughed, and I could see why. Her dad was at least three inches shorter than me, and probably fifty pounds lighter. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and pants that showed his socks.

"So, where are we going?" Gretchen asked, getting into the passenger seat.

"I made us reservations at that steakhouse down by the old shopping center. It's supposed to be really good."

"Sounds perfect," she said.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were able to go right to our table, since I had the reservation.

"Your server will be with you shortly," the hostess told us, setting two menus onto the table.

"You look really pretty tonight," I blurted out, as Gretchen opened her menu.

"Thanks," she blushed. "You like nice too. I didn't know you even owned a tie."

"Yeah, well," I shrugged. "I guess I'm full of surprises."

She laughed. "Really now? I thought I knew almost everything about you; I have known you since kindergarten, after all."

"Did you know that I can stuff my entire fist in my mouth?" I asked, grinning.

"You cannot. That's physically impossible."

"I've been doing it for years."

"Prove it."

"Alright," I relented. "Prepare to be amazed, Gretchen Grundler."

I opened my mouth as wide as I could, and placed my balled up fist into my mouth.

"No way!" Gretchen said, amazed. "That's probably the most freakish thing I have ever seen in my life."

"Told you I could do it, babe," I said, smugly.

"Okay, okay, you were right," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll alert the media."

"Ouch," I said playfully. "That hurts."

"I wonder where our waiter is," Gretchen said. "It's been nearly ten minutes."

"I know," I said. "I'm starved. If someone's not out soon I'll-"

"Hi, welcome to Joe's Steakhouse. My name is-"

My eyes widened as I caught sight of our tardy server: Lawson.

"What-what are you doing here?" I stuttered.

"I'll go get another waiter," he said, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Did you know he worked here?" I asked Gretchen as Lawson turned away.

She shook her head. "No. When we were dating he worked at the movie theater."

"Great, now we'll have to deal with him all night," I sighed.

"Hey," she said, rubbing my hand. "Don't let him ruin tonight. Look, here comes our new waiter now."

Sure enough, a smiling new waiter was making his way towards our table.

"You're right," I nodded. Still, I kept a close eye on Lawson throughout our meal. He kept glancing over at us.

"That _was_ good," Gretchen said as we finished up our steaks.

"I don't think I've eaten so much meat in my life," I replied, rubbing my overstuffed stomach. The waiter brought us the bill a short while later. Gretchen tried to pay for it, saying that it was my celebration dinner, but I wouldn't let her.

"Let me at least pay the tip," she said as I opened my wallet.

"If you insist," I agreed. She smiled and left fifteen dollars on the table.

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom," she said as we got up.

"Okay, I'll wait by the front."

The restaurant's crowd had died down since we had got there, so the entrance was nearly empty.

"You think you're a hot shot, don't you LaSalle?"

I turned around to see Lawson glaring at me, his arms crossed.

"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning.

"Think you're so great because you're dating Gretchen?" he spat.

"Jealous much?"

"You wish. I'd just savor this while it lasts."

"What do you mean 'while it lasts'?" I demanded.

Lawson simply smirked, and turned around.

I clenched my fist. That jerk, he's even worse now than he was back in elementary school.

"You ready?" Gretchen asked me, coming up from behind.

"Yeah. You want to go see a movie? We still have a couple hours before I need to get you home."

"Sounds good."

As we left the restaurant, though, I caught one last look at Lawson, who still had that evil smirk plastered on his face. I felt my blood boil. Maybe it was my bundled up anger that finally gave me the courage I needed, for that next second, I took Gretchen's hand, looked into her eyes, and said the three words that had been driving me crazy the past two weeks.

"Gretchen, I love you."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"I love you."

A huge smiled came across her face. "I love you too."

My heart fluttered with happiness as I leaned into kiss her, and I practically forgot all about Lawson. It was the perfect night.


	14. Chapter 14

_Gus's POV_

I had been thinking of nothing else the past week except for the question of whether or not Lauren and I should keep the baby. Based on practical reasoning, it seemed that the best thing to do would be to give the baby up for adoption. Between my current low salary, my rocky family situation, and us being in high school, it seemed like giving this baby a normal life would be near impossible. Yet even with this, a part of me couldn't bear to part with my child. It was, well, mine. It had my DNA running through its veins along with Lauren's.  
I sighed. It was the last of the month; the day Lauren and I had agreed to come to a decision. I glanced at my watch. It was nearly five. I had promised Lauren I would pick up Chinese food and be at her aunt's house by six, so I grabbed my car keys from my nightstand and headed towards the living room to tell my mom where I was going. I heard her voice before I got to the living room. She was talking on the phone. I stayed out of sight, and listened to what she was saying.  
"I don't know what they're going to do."

Pause.

"It's their choice, Oscar, not ours."

My heart stopped. She was talking to my dad.

"He's our son, Oscar. Don't say things like that. Why don't you just come home and we'll sort things out as a family. Together."

My dad must not have liked the sound of that, because a second later, she hung up the phone, and sat down on the couch, tears falling from her face. I felt that I should've gone in there to comfort her, but I didn't even know what to say. So I took the coward's way out and silently snuck out the front door and quickly backed out of out driveway before she realized I had heard the conversation.

After I picked up the food, I parked outside Lauren's aunt's house, and rang the bell.

"Hey babe," she greeted me, opening the door and giving me a quick peck on the cheek. "My aunt's down at the bank, so we'll be by ourselves."

"That's cool," I said. I held up the food. "Hungry?"

"Starved," she said, grabbing the bag and waddling into the kitchen. "You got the egg rolls, right?"

"Five, just like you asked," I replied. "And the pork rice with vegetables."

"You are the best," she said, taking a bite out of an egg roll.

"I guess I should bring egg rolls here more often," I laughed.

"So," she said, swallowing. "Let's not avoid the subject. What are we going to do?"

"Well," I started slowly, poking my duck around with a chopstick. "The more I think about it, the more I think that it would be really hard to give this baby a normal life."

"I know," she nodded. "We're still in high school, money's going to be hard, and we couldn't go to college…"

"Right," I agreed. "But even with all that, there's this huge part of me that wants to keep it.

"But we can't do both, Gus," she sighed. "We have to pick. Tonight."

"I know, I know," I said. "It's just so hard."

"It is. But we have to do it."

We sat in silence for nearly a half-hour. As I ate my food, my brain finally seemed to lean towards a single decision.

"We should keep it," I said suddenly.

"Keep it?" Lauren repeated.

"Yes, don't you want to?"

"Well Gus, of course I want to, but how are we going to manage?"

"We'll work it out," I said. "You said your aunt could watch it while we're at school and pay for the crib and everything. I could start saving up for after high school and maybe we could get our own place, go to college part time, eventually get decent jobs."

"Are you sure about this? Once we decide we can't just change our minds."

"I'm positive. It's our baby, Lauren. We can't just give it to total strangers!"

Lauren smiled. "I guess we're going to be parents then."

I couldn't help my self. I leaned down and kissed her passionately, running my tongue against hers. I don't think I had ever loved somebody this much before.


	15. Chapter 15

_Gretchen's POV_

I was really anxious to get back on the soccer field. True, my leg still hurt from time to time, but I could now walk without a limp. This years' season had already passed, but I was really hoping to be able to play next year. I had managed to talk Spinelli into going jogging with me to build up my leg. Spinelli's a really good runner, though, so keeping up with her was a challenge, but I was doing the best I could.

"How much further you want to go, Gretch?" Spinelli asked me as we jogged through the park.

"Until the playground," I panted.

We ran the remaining half-mile until we finally reached the playground.

"Not too shabby, Grundler," Spinelli said, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Thanks," I said, trying to catch my breath.

"Your leg feeling okay?"

"It's a little sore, but the doctor said that's to be expected. I'm thirsty; want to head over to Kelso's?"

"Can't. My grandparents are coming to dinner tonight so I have to get home and help clean up."

"Okay, have fun," I said, waving as my best friend turned to jog home. I set off towards Kelso's by myself.

"Hey Mr. Kelso," I greeted the shopkeeper as I entered the store.

"Hi there, Gretchen," he replied happily. "What can I get you?"

"A bottle of water, please."

"Sure thing," he said, grabbing a bottle from the fridge and sliding it over to me. "You've been running?"

"Yeah. I'm trying to get my leg back in shape."

"Don't worry; it'll get better in no time. I remember one time my daughter sliced her calve with an ice skating blade when she was about your age. The doctors said she would never skate again. Well, she went on to win three national championships after that. Could've made it to the Olympics too, but she decided to settle down and start a family instead."

I smiled. "That's sweet, is that the same daughter with the twin boys?"

"Nah, that's my youngest, Holly. Ferra's the one who skated. She's got herself three daughters."

"Well I hope they're all doing well," I said, sipping my water.

"They are. You'll have to excuse me for a sec, though. I've just gotten a large order of ice cream that I need to load into the storage freezer. I'll be back in a few minutes if any more customers come in." And with that he turned and headed to the back of the store. Just as he disappeared, though, the door opened again, and Lawson walked in.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to me.

"Leave me alone, Lawson," I said, moving to a different stool.

"Come on, Gretchen, talk to me, will you?"

"Why should I? We're not dating any more. I don't want anything to do with you."

"Are you really happier with Vince than with me?"

"Yes. I love him. And _he_ would never cheat on me like you."

"I know, I know. I was a jerk. But please, just give me a second chance."

"No way! Look, Lawson, I am _not_, under any circumstance, ever going to go out with you again. I'd rather die old and alone."

"Ouch. Not going to pretend that didn't hurt. But I've really changed."

"Yeah right. I saw you beating up a freshman just yesterday!"

"Okay, I've changed some," he sighed. "But I'm really sorry."

"I don't care."

"But I do." And just like that he smashed his lips against mine. I was so shocked that I didn't even think to pull away right away, nor did I hear the door open again. I pulled away after three seconds, though, and was about to give Lawson the dirtiest look I could, when I spotted Vince, standing at the doorway. He looked absolutely crushed.

"Vince I-" I started, but it was no use. Vince simply turned and ran out the door. I knew there was no way I could catch him, but I ran after him anyway. He had too much of a head start, though, and my leg was beginning to really hurt. I lost sight of him within a minute. I collapsed into a nearby bench and buried my head in my hands. What had just happened?


	16. Chapter 16

_Mikey's POV_

I sighed as I leaned back in my bed. I've been in this clinic for about three weeks, and while it's much better than the hospital, it's still pretty boring. The library only has a few good books, which I've already read about five times each, the garden is currently being treated for a mosquito infestation, and the T.V. in the rec. room only gets three channels, all news networks. I would've gone on my laptop and worked on my online classes, but the battery had just died and it be charged for another hour before I could use it again.

"Um, hello," said a girl, walking into my room.

"Hi," I said, sitting up.

"Sorry to just walk in," she said, fidgitting with her T-shirt. "But the door was open, and I was feeling lonely, so I thought I'd stop and say hello."

"It's cool," I said, happy to be talking with someone besides a doctor for the first time today. "My name's Mikey. What's your name?"

"Jeanie. Jeanie Delfigo. So, how long you in for?"

"Ten weeks. But only seven left now."

"Lucky. I just got in. I'm supposed to be here for six months."

"Ouch. What for?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm in here because I sort of got addicted to these weight loss pills."

"That's tough. How are you doing?"

"It's hard, sometimes. Some days all I want is to just have one of those little pills. But then I think of my mom and dad, and my friends, and how much they've helped me, and that helps make the urges go away."

"That's really nice."

I studied this mysterious girl. She looked to be about my age. She had wavy brown hair and was really short. Even shorter than Gretchen. Her face, though, was what caught my attention. She had the biggest deep brown eyes I have ever seen, and her lips looked so soft…

"Is there anything to do for fun around here?"

"Um, well, on Friday's all the patients on this floor meet for group therapy, which is better than the one-on-one therapy. There's a fuseball table in the rec. room, but I think it broke…"

"So basically nothing," she finished. "Great."

"I usually write poetry to entertain myself," I said.

"You write poetry? Could I read some?"

"Actually, it's pretty personal."

"I understand."

"Well," I started, flipping open my notebook. "This one I actually wrote the first night I stayed here. You could read it."

"The sturdy walls," she began. "Crumble in. The blazing sun sizzles out. The shining stars, that guided me so, have all gone dark, and left me cold. I feel like the one, they left to rot. Forgotten, unknown, will I come to? What will happen with everything now? No one knows."

"It's not very good, I wrote it in ten minutes or so-"

"Mikey, this is amazing," she said softly. "I wish I could write this good, but I'm more of a painter."

"You really like it?"

"Of course. Have you ever considered getting any of your poems published?"

"I sort of write them more for myself," I told her.

"Oh, well, if you change your mind, I think a lot of people would really like them and relate to them."

"Thanks."

"There you are, Ms. Delfigo," said a nurse, coming into my room. "We were looking for you. I see you've met Mikey."

"Yup."

"I'm sorry, but you need to come down to Dr. Waters for your first therapy session."

"Can't it wait until later?"

"No, dear. He's booked for the rest of the week."

"I guess I'll see you around, then," I said, smiling.  
"Bye," she said, following the nurse out.

_Wow_, I thought to myself as the door closed behind her. _She's really something._


	17. Chapter 17

_Spinelli's POV_

"Mom, you can't be going out in that," I said, watching my mother straighten her fluffy pink boa.

"Why not? I think it's absolutely gorgeous, don't you?"

"Sure, maybe if you're a flapper from a million years ago."

"Well, I like it. It makes me feel young again."

"Ready to go, Flo?" My dad asked, walking into the living room, wearing his ridiculous straw hat and plaid pants.

"Ugg," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "When you guys go out tonight, make sure you don't use our last name, okay?"

"Aw, Pookie, don't be such a spoilsport," my dad said.

"Well, we should be back around eleven," my mom said. "Is T.J. coming over?"

"I don't know. He's at his sisters new place, but he should be back soon, so we might watch a movie or something."

"Okay then, have fun. Make sure you fix yourself a decent dinner. I think we still have some left over green bean salad in the kitchen,"

"Thanks mom," I muttered, making a mental note to call in for pizza. "Have fun you two."

"Oh, we will. We haven't been dancing in months!"

Once my parents had left, I flipped on the T.V. I had just gotten into this movie with a blood-sucking milkman and a flying cow when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole and saw T.J. standing there.

"Hey," I greeted him, opening the door. "Finished up at Becky's?"

"Yup, she's all moved in," he nodded, coming in.

We hadn't really talked in two weeks; since the whole "sex talk".

"Listen, he said. I think we need to talk about-well, you know."

"Yeah," I nodded. "We do. Look, it was really stupid. I don't know why I-"

"It wasn't stupid," he interrupted me. "Look, I know that we've been dating for awhile now, and that we love each other, so it's only natural that we feel, to quote our seventh grade health teacher "those feelings" towards each other."

"I know, but you didn't want to-"

"It's not that I don't want to," he said quickly. "Believe me. I do. It's just, well, I don't think I'm ready for it. I love you, Spin, you know I do. I just think that we need to wait before we do it. I mean, look what happened to Gus. I just don't want our first time to be something we end up regretting."

"Honestly, I don't think I'm ready either," I said. "That day I came over and asked about it, well, I just thought that that's what _you _wanted."

"Aw, Spin, you didn't have to do that. If you aren't ready, no matter how ready I am, we won't do it, okay?"

I smiled. "Right. So when we decide to do it, we'll both have to be completely ready, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Good," I said, wrapping my arms around him. "Now then. My parents won't be back for another five hours, so I say we make use of this time alone. You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Beanie McChimp marathon?"

"You know it!"


	18. Chapter 18

_T.J.'s POV_

I'm really glad Spinelli and me got that whole 'sex' situation straightened out. It was nice not having to avoid her like some sort of jerk anymore.

"Hey mom," I said, coming back from my girlfriend's house. "I'm going to drive over to Vince's house, see if he wants to hit the batting cages with me, is that okay?"

"Fine, sweetie," she called back from the kitchen. "Just be home in time for dinner; I'm making my special meatloaf!"

"Can't wait," I said, my stomach tightening just thinking about it.

I drove to Vince's house, parked my car, and headed up to his door.

"Hi, Mr. LaSalle," I said when his dad answered the door. "Is Vince home?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Maybe _you_ can figure him out, T.J., because that boy hasn't come out of his room all weekend. Won't talk to me or his mother."

"Really?" I said, frowning. "That's weird. I'll see what I can do, sir."

I climbed up the steps and stopped at Vince's door.

"Vince?" I called, knocking. "It's T.J.. Can I come it?"

"Go away, Teje," he called back.

I frowned. I wanted to know what was wrong with my best buddy.

"Vince," I said again. "What's up? What happened?"

"Go, T.J.!"

I sighed. I had no intention of going. I took my key from my pocket and got down on my knees. Dating Spinelli had sure taught me a lot; I had the lock picked in less than thirty seconds.

"Vince," I said, coming into the room. "Come on, talk to me, man."

Boy, he was a mess. He was lying on his bed in sweat pants and a baggy T-shirt. His hair was a mess and he looked like he was in need of a good shave. But worst of all was his expression. He was just staring up at the ceiling. He didn't even turn to look at me when I came into his room.

"Dude, what's wrong?" I said, sitting on the chair next to his bed. "Your dad said you've been up here all weekend."

"I have."

"Well, why?"

I looked closer at his face and saw that it had tearstains. "Have you been crying?"

"Yes."

That right there was odd. Not Vince crying, I mean, but the fact that he admitted it. When his hamster died when we were twelve he cried for a week, but he always tried to hide it.

"Um, again, why? Come on, it's me. You can tell me anything."

"I saw Lawson and Gretchen kissing."

I had to have misheard that. "What?"

"Please don't make me say it again."

"You-you have to be mistaken," I said quickly. "Gretchen wouldn't cheat on you with her ex-boyfriend."

"I saw them, T.J., at Kelso's. They were kissing."

"Vince, I-I don't know what to say. Have you talked to her?"

"I can't. I don't want to. I can't."

"But maybe you're just interpreting it wrong-"

"How many ways are there to interpret a kiss?"

"Yeah, but-"

"I always knew I wasn't good enough for her," he sad glumly. "And I guess she knew it too."

Something just wasn't adding up here. Gretchen was the good one of the group. She was the only one of us who hasn't been in detention, always did her homework no matter what, got straight A's in college-level courses. She wouldn't cheat on Vince.

"Look, man, I know this has to be hurting you," I said softly. "I know how much you love Gretchen. But I know how much she loves you too; I just really think that you need to talk to her-"

"No, T.J.! I know what I saw. She's probably too busy sucking face with Lawson right now to even listen to me anyway!"

I stared at my best friend. I didn't want to leave him in this state, but I knew I had to. I needed to figure out what in the world was going on here.

"Okay, Vince," I said gently. "I'm going to go now; I think you need to be alone. But I'll have my phone on if you need me or want to talk."

"I won't," he said simply, still staring at the ceiling.

I let myself out, and jumped back into my car, this time driving to Gretchen's house.

"Hi, Mrs. Grundler," I greeted her mother at the door. "Is Gretchen home?"

"Yes, she's in her room," she told me. "She may not be up for visitors, though, but you're welcome to try."

"Thanks," I said politely, then ran upstairs to Gretchen's room.

"Gretch?" I called through the door. "It's T.J., can I come in?"

"It's open," she said.

She looked almost as bad as Vince. She was still wearing her pajamas, and looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Um, hi," I said awkwardly, wondering how to approach this. "I-I just saw Vince."

"Then you know about this whole mess, huh?" she said sadly.

"Well, see that's what I'm trying to figure out. He said you kissed Lawson."

"No, _he _kissed me!" she said, fresh tears falling from her face. "I was sitting in Kelso's, then he came in and was talking to me. I told him to get lost but he wouldn't listen to me. I was getting ready to leave when he just kissed me out of nowhere! Vince just walked in at the wrong second! I would never do that to him, T.J., I love him!"

"I know," I said. "I knew you wouldn't do that."

"How upset is Vince?" she asked me.

"Um-"

"He's never going to forgive me," she said, staring out her window. "I know it."

Gretchen was like my sister. I couldn't stand seeing her like this.

"Hey," I said, putting my arm around her. "It's going to all work out. I'll make sure of that.


	19. Chapter 19

_Vince's POV_

The first good thing that's happened to me in a long time is gone.

Why had I thought I could keep Gretchen? She was too good for me!

Why had I been stupid enough to believe that she loved me back?

I looked at my clock. I had been in my room for nearly two whole days. My parents kept trying to come in to talk to me. Even Chad stopped by to see what was going on. But I just don't feel like seeing anyone right now.

I slowly got out of bed, and walked across my room to the window, and looked outside at the beautiful sunny day.

I hated it.

It should've been raining; pouring; thundering. There should've been great big lightning bolts flashing across the sky, and tornados spinning across the land.

But no. Instead there was clear blue sky and the perfect amount of sun. Sickening.

My phone went off from by dresser again. Gretchen had tried call me a bunch of times before, but I ignored them all. I looked at my called ID and saw T.J.'s name. Sighing, I answered.

"Hello?"

"Vince, I just went to talk to Gretchen. She said the whole thing is a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding? T.J. for the last time I know what I saw!"

"Lawson kissed her! He was trying to get her back!"

"She kissed him back. She pulled away after like, five seconds."

"He caught her off guard! She was surprised, that's all!"

"She still could've pulled away sooner."

"Look, Vince. She's really upset. She's a wreck. She's worse than when Galillao got a virus in eighth grade and crashed."

I remembered that. When that little computer bit the dust, she didn't talk to any of us for a week.

"I'm upset too!" I exclaimed, shaking the memory from my head. "She broke _my_ heart T.J.! How would you feel if Spinelli was swaping spit with one of her ex-boyfriends?"

"I would be really mad, Vince, just like you are. But I would talk to her, because I know her better than that. I would get the real story, like you should with Gretchen. Go talk to her!"

"No! Look, T.J., me and her are done. We're over. She's made it clear that she's happier with Lawson than she was with me."

"Vince! She hates Lawson! She loves you!"

"I've got to go, Teje," I said heavily. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

As I hung up, something weird happened. All that sadness I was feeling, all that depression, suddenly changed to anger.

_Well, _Ithought to myself. _If Gretchen can do it, so can I._

…..

_Next Day at School_

I walked to school that day, so when I arrived, the hallways were packed with students just arriving. I spotted Gretchen standing by her locker. Perfect.

"Vince," she said, spotting me. "Vince, we need to talk. I'm so-"

But I walked right past her to Franci Roberts, aka the easiest girl in school, who was standing nearby grabbed her shoulders, and kissed her.

I don't know how long I kissed her, probably close to a minute. When I finally broke away, Franci didn't even look fazed.

"Well, I guess you can make it half the track team," she shrugged, grinning. "But you could've just asked you know."

I ignored her, and turned to see Gretchen. But she was gone.

I had gotten my revenge, so why didn't I feel better?


	20. Chapter 20

_Gus's POV_

"Is the food here as bad as it looks?" I asked Mikey as he began spooning into the jello cubes the nurse brought him.

"No, it's actually pretty good. You should try their lava cake. That's a heavenly delight if I've ever tasted one."

I smiled. I've been pretty out of touch with the gang lately, what with the baby coming in just a few months, so I decided to visit Mikey for the first time since he got transferred to this new place.

"So, how's Lauren?" he asked, chewing on the jiggly globs.

"She's doing all right. She's getting pretty big, though. Oh, did I tell you? We decided to keep the baby."

"Really? Gus that's great! A new baby amongst our circle of friends, why that's fantastic!"

"I hope so. But to tell you the truth, it's kind of scary."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, babies cost a lot of money."

"But you have a job."

"Yeah, but not a very good one. There's a promotion position, though, and I'm hoping that I get it. It's still not much, but it would really help us. Plus Lauren and me both want to stay in school. And go to college. Her aunt's going to help out with the babysitting but we're both still going to have a lot of responsibility."

"I'll help," he said. "Just as soon as I get out of here. Plus I'm sure if you ask the others, they'll help you as well."

"Yeah," I nodded, and then I let out a sight. "And then I'm scared that I won't be a good dad."

"What? Gus you'll be a terrific dad!"

"But I'm only sixteen, Mikey. I barely know how to take care of myself, let alone another human being. What if I screw up and my kid winds up with an awful life?"

"I remember reading once," Mikey said. "That being a parent doesn't mean getting everything right, or even close to right. It means being able to sit down with your child and help him when it goes wrong, because it's bound to do so."

"But will I even be able to help him?"

"I think you can. Look at what you've done with you and Lauren. You guys made a mistake, sure, but you handled it so well. You got a job, took night school classes, and made the tough decision to keep your child and raise it. I know you'll be a great dad, Gus, and Lauren will be a great mom. You two just need to breathe and take it slowly."

"Wow, Mikey," I blinked. "I don't think I was ever in need of your poetic mindset more."

He grinned. "Glad to see it hasn't withered away in here."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and a girl that looked to be about our age walked in.

"Hey, Mikey, I was wondering if you wanted to go down to the rec. room and- Oh, sorry," she said, spotting me. "I didn't know you had company."

"It's okay," Mikey said, his cheeks turning a faint crimson shade. "Jeanie, this is my friend Gus."

"Hi, Gus," she said. "Mikey's told me about you. He said that you were really interested in the army."

"Er, yes, I guess."

"My brother's in the army," she said. "So was my sister, but she got sent home with a purple heart."

"Oh, is she doing okay?"

"No," she said shortly. "She's missing her leg and she's got PTSD."

"I'm so sorry."

"Thanks. Well, I'll leave you to your friend, Mikey. I'll come up a little later."

"Friend of yours?" I asked once she left.

"Yeah, she just got admitted here a few days ago. I think she seems really nice."

"I could tell. You like her?"

"Sure; I just said she was nice."

"You know what I mean. Come on, Mikey, I saw you blush when she came in."

"I didn't," he mumbled.

I chuckled. "You can tell me, Mikster. She's cute. And she obviously likes spending time with you."

"You think?"

"Well duh. How often does she swing by your room like that?"

"Three or four times a day."

"You should tell her that you like her," I encouraged him. "I mean, the clinic doesn't have a 'no relationship policy' among patients, do they?"

"Not that I know of, but I'm sure they would try to discourage it as much as possible."

"Eh, you can work around that."

"I did write her a poem," he admitted. "But I never showed it to her."

"There you go. Girls love that! Lauren keeps trying to get me to write her poems, but the best I can do is something that starts off with 'There once was a man from Nantuckit."

"I'll think about it," he said slowly.

...

I left the clinic after about two hours. It felt great to just sit with Mikey and talk about all the things we used to before he wound up in rehab and I got Lauren pregnant; girls, school, the latest Senior Fusion comics that we both still secretly read.

I was feeling so great from being back with my friend that I decided to drop by Gretchen's to see if she felt up to helping me with my science report, she had told me to stop by anytime I needed help, after all.

I pulled into her driveway and had just gotten out of my car when I saw T.J. come out the front door.

"Gus?" he said, clearly surprised to see me here.

"Hey," I greeted him. "I was just going to see if Gretchen could help me with my science report."

"I wouldn't go in there," he warned me. "She's really upset."

"Why? What happened?"

"It's a long story," he sighed. "But basically her and Vince are kind of broken up."

"What?"

"She's really torn about it. So is Vince."

"Why did they break up?"

"Well Lawson was trying to get Gretchen back while she was at Kelso's, so he kissed her to try to win her over again. Unfortunately for her, Vince walked in at the wrong moment and saw them. He thinks that Gretchen's still in love with Lawson. So at school Monday he went up to Franci Roberts, you know, the one that apparently put out for the entire swim team? Anyway, he went up to her and kissed her, right in front of Gretchen."

"Vince did that?" I asked, stunned.

"I know. I couldn't believe it either. Gretchen's skipped P.E. all week just to avoid him, and Vince says he's fine, but he really isn't."

"Wow," I sighed. "Guess I'm really out of touch. Are you sure Gretchen doesn't need any company? I have an hour before I need to get into work."

"I think she just wants to be alone," T.J. told me. "I was only up there for ten minutes."

"Okay," I nodded. "Um, I guess I'll get going then."

I started back to my car.

"Hey," T.J. called to me. "How's Lauren?"

"Good."

"Well, listen, it's been awhile since we've hung out and all, so I was wondering if you and Lauren would want to grab a bite later tonight with me and Spin? Kind of like a double date?"

"I don't get off work until seven."

"That's fine.

"Well then, sure."

"Cool, meet us at that new BBQ place down by the mall around seven thirty."

"See you then."

I've got to say I was really touched by T.J.'s invitation. Not many teenagers would want to be seen with a pregnant 16 year-old. But still, I couldn't help but feel out of touch with the rest of my friends.

And you know what? I told my self. Once the baby comes, it's only going to get worse.


	21. Chapter 21

_Gretchen's POV_

For the first time in my entire life, I ditched school. I knew my parents would be leaving the house ten minutes after I left, so I just walked halfway and then turned around.

I couldn't stand looking at Vince or that Franci girl he's now going out with.

Even though it had been a week since Vince had kissed her right in front of me, I still cried about it every time I replayed the scene in my head.

When I got back to my house, I headed up to my room and collapsed on my bed, fresh tears threatening to fall. I changed out of my school clothes into lounge pants and a tank top and grabbed my notebook. Whenever I'm stressed, I do calculus to calm myself down. I had just finished doing a long trigonometric integral that required many substitutions, and I felt a little calmer. But I still felt someone punched me in the gut.

I began rummaging through my drawer until I found what I was looking for. A few weeks ago, I had gotten a letter from MIT in the mail. It was a letter from the dean of admissions. He had seen pieces of my work, which had recently been published in a prestigious scientific journal, and had been very impressed. He had done further research on me and found my numerous science accomplishments, including my many high-profile projects that had won me the school science fair year after year. He was willing to offer me a full scholarship to study there for the next four years, or for however long it took me to earn my degree. I hadn't told any of my friends about this, just my parents, because I wasn't sure I want to cut my high school experience. I wanted to stay with Vince. But now, well, that wasn't an issue…

If I took this offer, I would have to fly out in three weeks for orientation, and would then stay up there until the start of the summer term, when I would begin classes. I still have three days before I have to give my decision…

….

My parents got home around five.

"Mom, dad," I said, coming down stairs.

"Hi, sweetie," my mom replied. "I'm making chicken for dinner. Do you want salad or rice to go with it?"

"Whatever you want," I said. "But can I talk to you guys?"

"Sure," my dad nodded.

I took a deep breath. "I want to take that offer with MIT."


	22. Chapter 22

_Mikey's POV_

"So," Jeanie said, leaning back in the chair in the rec. room. "Which would you rather do? Eat ten live spiders or go a month without talking?"

"Hmm," I said thoughtfully. "Can I cook the spiders?"

"Well, that would kind of defeat the purpose of them being _live,_" she smiled.

"Well," I said. "I guess I would pick the spiders anyway. I mean, in some countries they eat bugs all the time. At least, that's what my friend Gretchen told me."

"Okay, my turn."

"Alright. Would you rather….have to wear the same socks for a year or shave your head?"

"Shave my head; no question," she said.

"What? Why?" I asked. "You're hair's really pretty."

"Well, thanks," she laughed. "But I hate wearing socks period, let alone the same pair for a year."

"You hate socks?" I repeated.

She bent down and pulled up the leg of her jeans to reveal her bare ankle. "Haven't worn them in five years."

"That's so weird," I grinned.

"Yup," she nodded.

I took a deep breath. "But that's what I like about you."

"Aw, thanks," she said. "I like you two, Mikey."

I felt my heart race, and my palms began to sweat. I didn't know what I was doing. It was like my brain was operating on autopilot. "No," I said. "I mean, I-I _really_ like you."

She blinked. "What?"

"I like you," I repeated. "A lot. I think you're b-beautiful."

She looked down. "Mikey, I-"

I felt my stomach lurch. Her face said it all. She didn't like me the same way.

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to- I'll just go back to my room."

"Mikey," she said softly.

"We can just forget about it," I said, getting up. "It was a mistake. I'll see you-"

I ran out of the rec. room and back to my room. I closed the door behind me and sat down on my bed.

I was so stupid to think that I had a chance with her; with any girl for that matter. I wasn't funny like T.J., or athletic like Vince or suave like Gus. I had never kissed a girl in my life. I sighed, and stared up at the cracks on the ceiling. For the first time since I had been admitted here, I actually craved the dreaded pills that had placed me here in the first place.


	23. Chapter 23

_Spinelli's POV_

"Come on, girl, pick up," I mumbled into my phone as I dialed my best friend's number for about the twelfth time that day.

"Hello?" Gretchen finally answered.

"Hey," I replied. "Where have you been?"

"Asleep."

"What?" I looked down at my clock. "Gretch, it's almost noon! You've never slept past eight in your life; even when you're sick."

"I was tired, okay. I stayed up all night working on a new experiment on the acceleration on photons at a given point within a-"

"We both know that wasn't the reason," I said. "Look, Gretchen, do you want to talk about Vince?"

"No."

"Come on, you've been skipped school the other day, you've barely talked to me or any of the guys; you need to just talk about him."

"I don't want to," she said simply.

"Look, you know how much I hate these 'deep, emotional chick-talks'," I continued. "But this is the one case where it's actually necessary! Just come over for an hour."

"I'm really busy, Spin, maybe some other time."

"But we can just sit around and screw up Vince's face on that Photoshop thing you installed on my computer! Tell me you wouldn't love that."

"I don't really want to see Vince's face right now; demented or not. Thanks anyway, Spinelli, but I've got to go."

"Oh, no you don't. I'm coming over. We're going to have one of those stupid girl-to-girl talks even if it takes all day!"

I hung up, and grabbed my car keys from my dresser, and headed outside.

"Hey," T.J. called, jogging over from his house. "Did you talk to Gretchen?"

"Yeah. And she's being stubborn. I'm on my way over there now to try again."

"Good. I just got back from Vince's, and let's just say it didn't go too well."

"What happened?"

"Well, we were talking up in his room, but five minutes after I got there, Franci came over, and her and Vince started making out like animals or something."

"You know, I have a good mind to go over and pound both of them! Maybe I'll swing over there before I go to Gretchen's."

"Spin, that's just going to make it worse. Anyway, Franci's never been with the same guy for more than two weeks. She'll be moving on any day now."

"Alright. But if her and I ever cross paths…"

"Just go talk to Gretchen," he laughed.

…

"No sane person types that fast," I commented, walking into Gretchen's room. She was sitting at her computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard at about fifty miles an hour.

"What're you doing here?" she asked, her eyes never leaving the screen.

"I told you I was coming over. So come on, shut that thing off. I bought two pints of mint ice cream and some cheesy flick about some sort of cheesy girl, so let's do this."

"I have to finish this paper up by four," she said.

"What paper? I didn't know we had any paper due."

"It's not for school," she said quickly.

"Oh, is it for that science magazine again? They can wait for your article, Gretch."

She finally faced me. "Actually," she sighed. "It's- it's for the dean of admissions at MIT."

"Why are you writing a paper for him?"

"Because," she said slowly. "A few weeks ago, I got a letter offering me admission into the school for the next semester."

"Wait," I said. "So-so you're going to college? Now?"

She nodded. "I sent him my answer yesterday, and he just replied back today saying that he would begin the preparations. The orientation's in three weeks, but my parents and I are going to fly up this week and tour the campus and meet the dean."

"Gretch, this is crazy! You can't just leave the state because Vince was a total scumbag!"

"It's not because of Vince," she told me in a voice that I knew signaled that she was lying. "You know I've been dreaming of going to MIT ever since we were in first grade."

"Sure, but-but don't you want to finish high school?"

"I have enough credits to graduate now," she explained. "I can have my diploma sent to me while I'm at MIT."

"Are you really serious about this?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," she sighed. "And I'm so sorry that I didn't talk to you about this, but it's what I really want to do."

"I'm going to miss you, then," I said.

"I'll miss you too. And T.J., and Gus, and Mikey. I'll still come down for breaks and stuff. Plus, we can call each other anytime."

"I guess. But it won't be the same."

"I know," she said sadly.

…..

"She's doing what?" my boyfriend exclaimed when I got back to my house.

"She's going off to MIT," I repeated.

"But- I- She- Why?"

"Why do you think, genius?" I said, rolling my eyes. "She says it's not because of Vince, but we all know that's the lie of the century."

"We've got to tell Vince," he said anxiously. "Maybe this will make him snap out of it and talk to her."

"Be my guest," I told him. "But you'd better do it soon. She's flying out there next week."

"I'm on it," he said, rushing out of my house to his car.


	24. Chapter 24

_T.J.'s POV_

I was glad to see that Franci's car was gone by the time that I reached Vince's house. I quickly pulled into his driveway and ran up to the front door. His dad let me in, and I headed up to his bedroom.

"Vince," I said, opening the door without even bothering to knock first. "You've got to listen to me."

"Hey, where'd you go, man?" he asked, pulling his headphones out of his ears. "You just ran out of here before."

"Well, yeah, because you and Franci were making out like starved rabbits or something. Anyway, I-"

"Isn't she great?"

"Who? Franci?"

"Yeah. I think she may be the one, you know."

"What! Vince, snap out of it! You haven't even been dating her for two weeks! You don't love her, you love Gretchen!"

"Used to! I _used to_ love her! Now she loves Lawson, and I love Franci."

"First of all," I said, trying to keep my tone reasonable. "Franci goes from guy to guy like it's nothing! She even says it herself; she just likes the heat of a relationship! Once she gets that, she'll move on again! Second, you still do love Gretchen, and you know it! She doesn't love Lawson. That kiss was just a big misunderstanding and if you would talk to her, she would tell you that herself, but you'd better hurry up because-"

"T.J., look," he sighed. "Don't you remember before me and Gretchen got together, when she was still dating Lawson? How happy she got whenever they were together? How she would constantly text him to see how he was?"

"But like you said, that was _before_ you two got together! She's ten times happier with you! Anybody could tell you that!"

"I dunno, Teje," he said. "I just want to forget about it. Maybe it was for the best that this happened. Maybe we just weren't meant to be."

"Meant to be? What are you talking about Vince?"

"Maybe us being a couple just wasn't supposed to work out. We've been friends for so long; maybe that's how it's supposed to stay. Obviously we'd have to give it some time, but maybe in a while, we can go back to being just friends. She'll have Lawson, and I'll have Franci."

I shook my head. I knew my best friend. He was stubborn. I knew trying to talk any sense into him at this point would be useless.

I stood up. "I guess I'll go then," I said quietly.

"Okay," he nodded.

I started for the door. Right before I left though, I turned to him. "She's leaving. This week. She got an offer to go to MIT, and she's taking it."

He looked up.

"I just thought I'd let you know," I said, and I shut the door behind me.


	25. Chapter 25

_Vince's POV_

Gretchen was leaving? T.J.'s words were still playing in my head.

Well, I told myself. Maybe, maybe it's for the best…. Yeah, she'll go off to MIT and live her life and I'll stay here and live mine. And then if we're lucky, when she comes down to visit the two of us can put our whole past relationship behind us and try to be friends again. But deep down, I knew no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to forget about those months I spent with Gretchen.

I sighed; I felt so confused. So I pulled out my phone and dialed my new girlfriend, Franci's, number.

"Yeah," she said.

"Hey," I said. "What's up?"

"Um, I don't know. You're the one that called me," she said, slightly annoyed.

"Right, right. Listen, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something that's kind of bothering me. I just found out from T.J. that-"

"Look, Vince," she cut me off. "I think I'm going to kind of end this."

"End this?"

"Yeah. No offense or anything, but you're sort of clingy, and not the good kind of clingy."

"Oh," I said. "Well, if you'd think that would be best…Do you want to stay friends?"

"Um, I have to go," she said quickly. "Bye." And she hung up.

I hung up my phone, and shook my head. Did I just get dumped? But I didn't even feel at all bad about what just happened. Franci didn't mean that much to me; sure I told T.J. that she was the best and that I loved her, but honestly, she bugged the heck out of me. I don't mean to sound like a girly boy, but all she wanted to do was make out; never just talk.

I was still so confused.

….

So now I was back to being a lonely bachelor. I saw Franci with some new guy at school that week, and I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Poor guy.

I was still thinking about Gretchen going off to MIT. Should I say bye to her? I didn't even know when she was leaving: T.J. had only said this week. I barely saw her in school anymore. The only class we had together was P.E., and right now the girls were doing a unit in dance, while us boys did one in wrestling.

I didn't see any of my friends at school that day. T.J. was on a field trip with the student government (he was a representative, the best position, according to him, since he basically had to do nothing and still got to go on all these cool trips), Spinelli and the rest of the lacrosse team were beginning conditioning for the new season, so her coach somehow managed to get everyone the day off so the team could work in the weight room. I was never really surprised to see Gus missing; he's been absent a lot, though I have to admit he's doing better then he was at the beginning of the year.

After school, I figured I might as well do something, so I grabbed my basketball and headed down to the park to shoot some hoops.

The park was pretty much deserted, except for a few joggers and a couple of kids playing at the playground. I headed over to the court and began making free throws. I was doing pretty good; I was on my seventh shot in a row, when some cat let out a loud shriek and distracted me, causing my throw to soar way over the hoop over to the batting cages.

Silently cursing the cat, I jogged over to try to find my ball. The area by the batting cages was surrounded by about a million bushes, so I got down on my hands and knees and began to search.

After nearly fifteen minutes of looking in thorny bushes, I finally found the basketball. I was just about to get back up, when I heard the door of one of the batting cages close.

"How long are you going to practice for, man? I'm hungry!" said one voice

"Calm down, I'll just be here for a little," snapped a second voice.

I frowned. I recognized that second voice. It was the voice of the person I hated the most: Lawson.

"Can't you just do this later?" asked the first voice, which I assumed was one of his cronies. "You said we were heading to Kelso's to get a shake."

"And we will! Man, you can really be annoying, you know!."

"Too bad things didn't work out between you and that girl, then you could spend your time with her. What was her name? Gretel?"

"Gretchen," Lawson mumbled. "And that stupid LaSalle got her."

"But I thought you were trying to get her back?"

"I did. I kissed her the other day at Kelso's, but she still won't go out with me again. But hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"I hear that's the reason that her and LaSalle broke up! He walked in right when I kissed her, and he thought she was kissing me back!"

"Man, that's hilarious!"

"Isn't it?"

I stood there in the bushes, completley frozen. So everyone was right… She didn't kiss him, it was just a big misunderstanding…

What had I done?

I jolted out of the bushes, leaving my basketball behind, and sprinted to Gretchen's.


	26. Chapter 26

_AN- Each POV takes place before last chapter except for Vince's POV at the end_

_Gus's POV_

"I really think you should be sitting," I told Lauren, as she reached up to paint one of the walls. We were painting her aunt's spare room for the baby; we had settled on the color green, since we didn't know whether the baby was a boy or a girl yet.

"I can't sit anymore, Gus," she told me. "I'm getting bored. Besides, when I sit, the baby's head end of pressing on my bladder."

"Still, at least don't bend down a lot, okay?" I said. She was just over eight months along.

"Relax, I won't," she smiled.

"Okay, think we're nearly done with the paint," I commented, looking around the room. "Just a few more white specks we need to cover…should we tackle the crib tonight?"

"Why not," she sighed. "That way we'll just have the high chair, playpen and changing table left to set up."

Lauren and I had gone shopping last weekend; this stuff cost a small fortune, but luckily Lauren's aunt helped us out. "I'll come by after school tomorrow and help with those," I told her. "But I'll be a little late. Gretchen's leaving for MIT after school, and I was going to stop by and say goodbye."

"Tell I said 'good luck'," Lauren nodded. "Wish I could go and see her."

Lauren had left school last week. She was going to take the rest of the year off, and then start back again next fall. She had already finished her classes, so she was clear to move onto the eleventh grade, which is more than I can say.

"Hey," she said. "How's Vince handling this whole thing, I mean, they are dating."

"They broke up," I replied. "I think that's why she took the deal. Apparently there was some big misunderstanding with Lawson and Vince thought she was cheating on him, so now he's dating Franci."

"That's awful. They were perfect for each other."

"Yeah, well," I sighed. "I dunno. Maybe they'll be able to work it out later on, but right now it looks like they're done for good."

…

_Mikey's POV_

After much persuasion, I finally I finally got the doctor's here to let me go out this afternoon. They usually only allow this on weekends, but Gretchen was leaving today, and I wanted to be able to say goodbye to her.

"Your dad's waiting out in the car, sweetie," my mom said, coming into the room. "I'm just going to sign you out, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, mom."

She smiled, and then headed to the front desk.

I was glad to be getting out of here, even if it was only for the afternoon. I'd been feeling pretty down since that thing with Jeanie, and I hoped that seeing my friends would help me to stop dwelling on it.

I hadn't even seen her since, not even at the group therapy sessions that we both were required to attend. I guess she's avoiding me now….

"You're all clear to go, Mr. Blumberg," a nice nurse said to me. "Your mom's at the front desk."

"Thanks," I said, and headed out.

….

_Spinelli's_ _POV_

"Wanna go back to the field and toss the ball around," one of teammates asked me after our daylong training session.

"No thanks," I replied. "My friend's leaving today, and I need to get over there and say goodbye."

"Oh, okay. Maybe next time."

I quickly showered and headed out to the front of the school just as a school bus was pulling in.

"Hey," I greeted T.J. as he hopped off. "How was the trip?"

"Pretty cool; the lunch was the best part though," he said. "It was catered by this place that had the little mini appetizer things."

I laughed. "Ready to head over to Gretchen's? She has to be at the airport in forty minutes."

"Yup," he nodded, his smile falling.

"Do you know if Vince is going?"

"I don't think so," he sighed. "The last time I talked to him he was still convinced that Gretchen had kissed Lawson first."

I nodded. We walked to the student parking lot and kissed goodbye as we headed towards our separate cars.

I still couldn't believe my best friend was leaving. Gretchen was pretty much the only girl I talked to at school, except for the other girls on the lacrosse team, but they're more like acquaintances. Honestly, once we started high school last year, I knew Gretchen would be getting a ton of offers like this: she had taken about a million Advanced Placement classes and was being published in scientific journal after scientific journal. She was so smart. I was really going to miss her…

…..

_T.J.'s POV_

I've been the leader of this gang since our earliest days back at old Third Street School. I was the problem solver; the guy with all the answers. I led my friends out of countless situations; so why couldn't I fix this?

Here Gretchen was, ready to leave the state in less than an hour and Vince wasn't even going to be there. She was going to leave without even getting to see him one last time, and Vince was going to keep on believing that the girl he was in love with just cheated on him, instead of knowing the truth.

The bottom line was they were both going to be miserable.

I sighed. Deep down, I felt like this was my fault. I should've been able to come up with a foolproof plan to fix it, but I didn't.

…..

_Gretchen's POV_

"We'll bring up the rest of your things in a few weeks when we come back up to visit you," my mom told me as my dad brought down my suitcase.

"Alright," I said, looking around one last time at my room.

"You've got all your papers you'll need?"

"Yeah, they're in my bag in the car," I nodded.

"Good. You're brother's going to meet us at the airport."

"Okay, mom," I said.

"Gretchen!" my dad called from downstairs. "Your friends stopped by to say goodbye!"

I ran outside to see Gus, Spinelli, T.J. and even Mikey standing in my driveway.

"You guys came," I said, smiling.

"Of course we came," Spinelli said, giving me a hug.

"Yeah, we wouldn't miss seeing you," Gus smiled, also pulling me into a hug.

"I thought the clinic only allowed you to leave on weekends, though," I said to Mikey.

"They made an exception," he told he, giving me one of his famous hugs. "I just have to be back before six."

"Here," T.J. said after I hugged him, handing me a package. "We all chipped in and bought this for you."

"You guys didn't have to," I said, opening the package up.

"Well, when we saw it, we pretty much had no choice but to buy it for you," Spinelli grinned.

I gasped as I tore away the last of the paper to reveal a brand new _Galileo 2.0_.

"No way!" I exclaimed. "This must have cost you guys a fortune!"

"Nah, my brother's friends dad owns the store we bought it at," Spinelli explained. "He gave us a little discount."

"Thank you so much," I said. "I'm going to miss you all so much."

"You'd better stay in touch," T.J. said.

"Don't worry about that," I replied. "But um, Teje, did-did you talk to Vince?"

His gaze fell to the floor. "Yeah. Gretch, I'm so sorry, but I-I don't think he's going to come."

I nodded, trying not to let any tears fall. "That's okay. It probably would've been weird anyway."

"Don't worry about him, Gretch," Spinelli said, putting an arm around me. "He'll come around eventually."

"Yeah, eventually."

"Gretchen, sweetie, we need to get going," my mom called, walking out of the house.

"Don't I still have twenty minutes?"

"No, Gio just called, they bumped up your flight time. We need to go now if we're going to make it."

"I'll call you guys when I land," I said, turning to my friends. "Bye."

We all hugged one last time, and then with a fleeting wave, I got into the car.

…..

_Vince's POV_

I kept sprinting, not even caring about the burning sensation in my lungs. I ran across the intersection without even looking for cars. I ran through people's lawns, I ran through parking lots. I just kept running.

I was relieved when I finally reached Gretchen's street. I kept sprinting until I reached her house. Catching my breath, I walked up to her front door, and knocked.

No answer.

I knocked again.

Nothing.

No, I told my self. She didn't leave. No. No.

I knocked again, harder.

"Excuse me," said one of Gretchen's neighbors, who must've heard me knocking. "What are you doing?"

"I-I need to talk to somebody in there," I panted.

"Well you just missed them," she said, frowning. "They all just left for the airport about five minutes ago."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm house sitting for them."

I couldn't believe it. I slid to the ground, my legs aching and my head pounding. She was gone.

I had let her go.


	27. Chapter 27

_Vince's POV_

I somehow managed to drag myself away from Gretchen's house. I didn't know what to do know. How could I have been so stupid? Did I really believe that Gretchen would cheat on me? She was the kindest, most honest person I had ever met; that was part of the reason I loved her!

I kept walking around the town, and I found myself outside T.J.'s house.

My blood suddenly boiling, and my sadness replaced by anger, I ran to his front door and pounded on it.

"Vince, what are you-" he said as he answered his door.

"She left!" I exclaimed, barging in. "She left! Today was the day!"

"Well, yeah, she had to head to-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I exclaimed. "Huh? Why didn't you tell me she was leaving today?"

"Vince, I-"

"All you told me was this week! You didn't tell me the day!"

"Because every time-"

"I loved her! I loved her okay, I never stopped loving her! She was the best thing to happen to me and now she's a million miles away and thinks that I hate her and it's all your fault!"

"Vince, look, I'm sorry but-"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked again meekly, falling into the nearby chair.

"Vince, I tried to," he said, sitting down next to me. "But every time I mentioned Gretchen you just shut down on me. You were in denial, man. You kept trying to convince yourself you didn't love her, and that you loved Franci instead."

"You're right," I sighed. "I'm sorry, man, it's not your fault. It's just, well, she's-she's gone."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, then T.J. cleared his throat. "Why the sudden change in heart? Why did you all of the sudden decide to see her when you've been so intent on avoiding her for the longest time?"

"I was wrong, everyone else was right," I mumbled. "I was so stupid to think she would cheat on me. I overheard Lawson talking at the park today. He kissed her to try to get her back. And he was real thrilled that we ended up breaking up over it."

"Lawson's a real jerk," he said, patting me on the back. "But-But maybe we can fix this."

"How?"

"Well you could call her for a start. If you talk to her-"

"Teje, I've been the biggest prick alive to her. If I were her and I saw my name flash on her caller ID I wouldn't answer."

"But you have to try, you never know."

I nodded. He had a point. "But what do I say?"

"Say what you said to me. That you feel awful and your sorry and you were wrong."

"Think it will make her come back?"

He didn't respond.

"It won't, will it?" I sighed.

"I-I think everything has already been finalized at MIT," he said. "But if you call her you can at least try to fix your relationship. Long distance has been working for a lot of people."

"I dunno," I said, staring at my phone in her hand.

"Listen, Vince, before she left today, she asked me about you. She wanted to know if you were coming. When I told her I didn't think so she looked so-so heartbroken. She still cares about you, man, I know she does. It may take you two some time to fix everything but come on, your Vince and Gretchen!"

"You know what, T.J., you're right."

"Good. At least I know that that totally girly speech had some impact. Now can you call her while I try to regain some of my masculinity?"

I nodded, and dialed her number.


	28. Chapter 28

It was Friday night. I had just gotten home from work.

"Hi," I greeted my mom as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hi," she replied softly, sipping a cup of tea. "Are you going over to Lauren's tonight?"

"No, she wanted to spend some quality time with her aunt; she's really been helping us out a lot."

My mom nodded. "I made chicken, if you're hungry."

"Thanks, I am," I said, grabbing a plate.

"Look, Gus," she said, sighing, setting down her cup. "I know I've been distant these last few months. It's just-with everything that's been going on, I-I haven't been myself. I know that wasn't fair to you; you needed me."

"It's fine, mom, you don't need to apologize," I told her.

"It's not fine. No sixteen year old needs to go through this without anybody. I know Lauren's aunt's going to help out with the baby, but I want to be there too. Whenever you need me to baby sit, I will. And I went through the attic today and found a bunch of your old baby stuff, for if the baby is a boy…and here, I want to give this to you and Lauren."

She passed me a check. It was for five thousand dollars.

"Mom, I can't take this," I said. My dad made a pretty good living, but still. Besides, who knew if we'd still be getting money from him if he never came back…

"Take it," she said firmly. "Trust me; you'll need it. Don't worry, Gus, we'll still manage here."

I got up, and without a word, hugged my mom.

…

The next day I had to work until five. But towards the end of my shift business slowed, and my boss let me off about half-an-hour early. So I got into my car and drove over to Lauren's aunt's house.

"Oh, hello, Gus," her aunt said when I pulled into the driveway. She was just getting into her own car. "I got called into work, so I won't be back until after midnight. Lauren's inside; stay as long as you like."

"Thanks," I said, hopping out of the car. The front door was open.

"Hey," I said, walking over to my girlfriend, who was laying on the couch, reading a book. I pecked her on the lips. "You'd never believe this guy that came into the shop today; he had fingernails that must've been six inches long!"

"Wow," she said, smiling. "Shame I keep biting mine, I'll never get past the one inch mark. Anyway, my aunt and I finished the baby's room last night. It's all set. You've got to see it." She started to get up.

"Stay," I told her. "You need to rest, I'll go up and see it myself."

"Gus, I _can_ walk, you know," she said. "Besides, I really need to pee…"

She led me up to the baby's room. It looked incredible. The walls were now adorned with teddy bear wallpaper, and a large mobile hung over the crib. The changing table was set up in the far corner, and a rocking chair sat in the middle of the room.

"It looks really good," I said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said. "Wait here, I'll show you these cute little blocks my aunt brought home last night when I get back."

She headed off towards the bathroom. I stepped into the room to have a better look. I hoped my son or daughter liked it here…

"Gus!" Lauren cried from the bathroom.

"What?" I yelled back, running to the shut door. "Are you okay?"

"No!" she yelled back. She sounded like she was in pain. "Gus, my water broke! I-I'm going into labor!"


	29. Chapter 29

_Gretchen's POV_

"And here's your dormitory," the lady who was giving me a tour of MIT's campus said, coming to a stop in front of a door. "You'll be rooming with two other girls, both majoring in Quantum Mechanics. They're both at classes right now, but I'm sure you can meet them later."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Well, I still have one last paper to go over with your parents," she continued. "Would you like to join us, or get settled in your room?"

"I'd like to get settled, if that's alright," I replied, still tired from the flight.

"Sure thing." She handed me the key to my dorm. "We'll be back in just a few moments. I hope you like the room." My parents gave me quick smiles as they followed the lady back to her office. I watched them disappear, and then unlocked the door.

The room wasn't very big, barely larger than my room back home. It had three beds, a desk, and nightstand by each bed for the furniture. The closet was a decent size, at least. I wheeled in my suitcase and placed it on the bed furthest from the door, which I assumed was mine, seeing as it was the only one without any sheets yet.

So far MIT was great. I dreamt of coming here ever since I was a little girl. I couldn't wait to go to my classes, but those wouldn't start until after orientation. Right now, I was just supposed to get used to the campus and get acquainted with the staff and students. I sat down, and pulled out Galileo 2.0 and set him on my nightstand to charge.

It had only been about six hours, and I already missed my friends. I'll still get to see them, I told myself. Just not as often as-

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of my cell phone. I pulled it out of my pocket, hoping it was Spinelli or T.J. or somebody. I was more than surprised, though, to see Vince's name. I stared at my phone. What should I do? Answer it? But what would I say?

There was a knock at the door. "Gretchen," my mom called. "Ms. Hanley asked if you would like to visit one of the labs here? She says that many students are in there working, so you'll get to see them in action."

I looked from the door, and back to my still ringing cell phone. I took a deep breath.

"Yeah, mom, I'm coming," I said, as turned my cell phone off.


	30. Chapter 30

_Mikey's POV_

It was Friday, and I was getting ready to sign out for the weekend.

_Just three more weeks_, I told myself. _Three more weeks and then I'll be released!_

I had just zipped up my bag when I heard a knock at my open door. I turned to see Jeanie standing in the door-frame. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged. I didn't look her in the eyes.

She sat down at the edge of the bed, and took a deep breath. "Look, Mikey, about before when you-"

"It's over," I said quickly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you that. It put you on the spot, and that was wrong."

She didn't say anything for a minute. She just looked at her shoes. I could've sworn I saw a tear forming in the corner of her eye, but I didn't say anything. Then finally, she said: "Do you want to know why I'm in here?"

I blinked. "Um, okay?"

She rolled up the sleeve of her jacket and I saw many healed razor cuts and numerous needle holes.

"Last year, I went to a new school. It's G.P Maple-hill High School, you know, about ten minutes out of town? Anyway, I was really nervous, because I didn't know anyone. I didn't fit in there, and everyone made me feel like an outsider. Except for one girl. Her name was Olivia. She sat with me at lunch after a bunch of jocks had knocked over my tray. We had a few classes together, so over the next couple of weeks we got to know each other better. She was my first real friend. Ever. And within a few months, I-I started to feel something greater than friendship towards her. I-I liked her. I _loved_ her. At first I was freaked out. I mean, here I was; sixteen and discovering that I was a lesbian. But every time I was around her it just felt so, so _right_. I couldn't take it any longer, so I confessed to her my feelings, and it turned out she felt the same way for me. I was overjoyed. We began dating. We didn't care that everyone at school called us dykes, or said that we were freaks. We were in love. But I couldn't tell my parents. They never accepted homosexual relationships, so I knew I would be shunned, and-and I couldn't take that just then. Olivia understood, and didn't pressure me to tell them. Her parents knew, and were happy with it, so we always hung out over there. Towards the end of the school year, my parents told me they were going to be out of town visiting my uncle. So I figured that would be the perfect time to have Olivia over. So I spent all day making this romantic dinner for us, and when she came over we ate and then moved to the couch. We decided to take it up to my bedroom. We had just started, well, you know, when my door flew open and I saw my dad. He was speechless. He started screaming, and punching walls. He threw Olivia out before she even had a chance to say goodbye to me. He forbid me to ever see her again. He pulled me out of school and hired a private tutor so I could be home-schooled. But-but I missed Olivia. Dad took away my phone privileges, my computer, bolted my window shut. I had no way to see her. So I began cutting myself. It helped with the pain inside me for awhile, but soon I needed something else. My tutor saw how I was acting, and told me that for the right price, he would give me something to help. I was so desperate that I gave him my savings, and he gave me heroin. It was the only thing since Olivia that had made me feel that good. Soon I was addicted to it. One week before I was admitted here, my dad found me passed out on my bed. I guess I had too much in my system. So he called the ambulance, and I got sent here."

I was stunned. All I could do was stare at her like an idiot.

"So, you see?" she said. "It wasn't you at all Mikey. I'm-I'm just not into guys that way. I'm so sorry I hurt you, but-but I just couldn't."

"So," I said finally. "You're-you're gay?"

She nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I wanted to make sure I could trust you first. Honestly, I was going to tell you the other day when you, you know…And then I wasn't sure if you would want to see me again. It took me a long time just to work up the nerve to come here today. I hope you're not mad at me."

I shook my head. "No. I'm just a little surprised, though. Um, have you seen Olivia since?"

"I call her from this phone," she said softly. "Every night. I can't risk having her come visit, because my dad will see her name on the log. She says she still loves me, though."

"I'm really sorry about the way your dad reacted," I said. "It's terrible that you can't be with your true love."

"Thanks," she said. "Well, I'm going to be in here for awhile. When I get out, I'll be 18, and I can live on my own. I'll see her then."

I felt a pang in my heart. Even though I knew I could never be with Jeanie the way I wanted, I still felt deep sympathy for her. I needed to do something…

….

_Next day_

"Mr. Blumburg," said the nurse at the receptions desk. "Didn't think I'd see you back until Sunday. Dr. Hartmen wanted to talk to you, but he said your phone line was down."

"Oh yeah, a branch from the storm last night fell on our phone line," I told her. "Our entire neighborhood doesn't have service. Um, I'm supposed to have a visitor in a few minutes, so can you just send her up when she comes, please?"

"Sure thing. And I'll tell Dr. Hartmen you're back so he can talk to you."

"Okay, great."

I headed up to my floor, and headed over to Jeanie's room and knocked at the door.

"Mikey?" she said. "I thought you went home for the weekend."

"I decided to come back," I told her. "Anyway, I'm just going to shower, and then do you want to play a game of Scrabble? I brought my version from home, and I remember you told me it was your favorite."

"Yeah, sure."

"Great, just give me ten minutes, okay?"

"No problem. Prepare to lose, though!"

I hurried back to my room. After about five minutes, there was a knock at the door. "Mr. Blumburg," came the voice of the nurse from downstairs. "Your visitor is here."

I opened the door and saw a short, dark haired girl next to the nurse.

"Hi," I said, shaking her hand. "I'm Mikey, thanks for coming."

"Thanks for calling me," she said, coming into my room. "I can't believe you're doing this. I don't know how I can thank you."

"It's my pleasure," I told her. "Sit down, please."

"You're a really nice guy," she said, taking a seat in the chair by the window. "There's not many of those left…"

There was another knock at the door. "Mikey? Open up, buddy, I have my Scrabble brain on!"

I let Jeanie in. "Come on," she said. "Let's get this game-Olivia?"

She spotted the small girl and stopped dead in her tracks. "I-how-what?"

"Surprise," I said softly. "I-I hope you don't mind, but last night after we talked I felt like I needed to do something. So when you went to see your doctor, I snuck into your room and got Olivia's number and called her. I told her that you really needed to see her, and that she could come visit you and sign in as my visitor, so your dad won't see her name."

"Mikey," she said breathlessly. "I-I don't know what to day. Thank you!"

"You're welcome," I said. "I just couldn't stand the idea of your dad standing in the way of true love."

Both girls smiled at each other and embraced.

"Anyway," I said. "You two probably want sometime alone…So you could stay in here if you want, or go back to Jeanie's room…"

"I-I think we'll go back to my room," Jeanie said. "But Mikey, we'll never forget this. And you know what, why don't we come back after an hour and have that Scrabble game?"

"Sounds like a deal," I grinned.

The two girls left, and I sat down on my bed. It felt good to have done something for love…

"Mr. Blumburg," said Dr. Hartmen, coming in. He was followed my mom and dad. "I was so glad I was able to catch your parents in the parking lot…I have some very good news for you."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, we have been monitoring your progress these last seven weeks, and we've seen a miraculous recovery in you! You've been the most motivated patient I've seen in years! You haven't had one relapse, you've done great in group therapy, all your tests have come back clean…I've discussed it with the board, and we're prepared to cut down your time here. You will be able to leave tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I repeated. "Are you serious?"

"Very," the doctor smiled. "Of course, you'll still need to come in twice a week for individual therapy, but that will be on a strictly out-patient basis."

"Isn't this wonderful, sweetie!" my mom exclaimed, giving me a bone-crushing hug. "You can come home!"

"Yeah," I sad. "I can come home."


	31. Chapter 31

_Spinelli's POV_

"Stupid Russian Revolution, why did you have to be so complicated," I muttered as I flipped through my textbook, looking for any bit of information that would help me reach the ten-page minimum of this stupid paper I had to write for World History. Ordinarily, I would just call Gretchen and ask her to help me, but seeing as she's now at MIT…

Eh, it was no use. I figured I would just finish writing the paper later that night. I looked out my window and saw that T.J.'s car was in his driveway so I walked over. I hadn't seen my boyfriend in three days. My brothers came down the day Gretchen left and took me up to the cabin in the woods they had just rented for the summer coming up in a few weeks. It had been a lot of fun, but it didn't have cell service, so I couldn't call Teeje. I'm sure my parents had told him where I was, though. I had just gotten back this morning, and he must've been busy, since he didn't answer any of my calls.

I knocked on his door.

"Hey, long time no see," he greeted me, letting me into the house after giving me a kiss on the lips.

"Sorry, I just hadn't seen my brothers in awhile, and they came at like midnight to get me, so I figured you would be asleep."

"Don't worry about it. Um, Vince is here too."

"Oh," I said. "Has-has he said anything about Gretch leaving?"

"Yeah, actually, not even an hour after I got back from her place the other day he came over," he said. "He had just missed her. He-he realized that he was wrong about Gretchen cheating on him with Lawson."

"About time. Well, did he at least call her? Did they sort everything out? Man! I go into the woods for three days and I miss everything!"

"He called her," T.J. sighed. "But…she didn't pick up."

"Oh," I said softly. "Well, maybe she was just busy-"

"He's called her about five dozen times a day since," he told me. "I guess-I guess she doesn't want to talk to him."

"Well, did _you_ try calling her? You could've told her that Vince was trying to apologize."

"Yes, I did," he said. "But, come on Spin, this is Gretch, she's too smart for that. She probably figured that it was Vince just using my phone, and didn't answer."

"She just had to be that smart," I sighed. "Well, can I see Vince? How's he holding up?"

"He's kind of a mess now, to be honest," he said, leading me up to his room. "He's been here for three days, constantly on the phone, trying to reach her. I think he's about to snap."

We reached his room, and I opened the door.

Vince was sitting on T.J.'s bed, his cell phone clutched in his hand as he dialed a number.

"Hey, Vince, you look like you haven't slept in days," I said, noticing the bags under his eyes.

"That would be because he hasn't," T.J. said.

"I'll sleep in a minute," Vince said in a monotone voice that told me he hadn't really even heard me.

"Maybe if I try calling her," I started.

"Good idea," T.J. said. "But not right now. If you call right after Vince tries her, she'll just think he's using your phone too."

He turned to Vince. "Vince, how about you stop calling now, get some sleep, and in a few hours Spinelli will call Gretchen. I'm sure that she'll be able to talk to Gretch."

"Spinelli? When did you get here?" he said, taking his eyes away from the phone for the first time since I got there.

"Okay, lover boy," I said, reaching over and snatching his phone away from his grip. "Sleep. Now. Or I'll be glad to introduce you to Madam Fist again!"

"You swear you'll talk to Gretchen?" he asked.

"Swear. Listen, it will all work out," I said gently. "Gretchen's just-just a little mad right now. But you know her, she doesn't hold grudges. Now just lay down…"

Suddenly T.J.'s phone went off.

"Is it Gretchen?" Vince exclaimed.

"No, Gus," T.J. replied, looking at his caller ID. "Listen to Spinelli and sleep."

He answered the phone.

"Vince, seriously, if you don't get some sleep soon, you'll be even more of a wreck than you are now-"

"Oh my God- We'll be right there!" T.J. said into his phone.

"What's going on?" I asked, turning to my boyfriend.

"It's Lauren. She's in labor!"


	32. Chapter 32

_T.J.'s POV_

After I hung up the phone, Spinelli, Vince and I ran down to my car and drove in the direction of the hospital.

"Is Lauren doing okay?" Spinelli asked me.

"Gus didn't say; all he said was that she was in labor," I explained. "But I hope she is."

Luckily the hospital wasn't too far from my house. We pulled into the parking lot and rushed into the reception area.

"Um, we're here to see Lauren Jacobs," I said to the lady at the desk.

"Ms. Jacobs isn't taking any more visitors right now," the lady said, looking on her computer. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait."

"T.J.! Spinelli! Vince!" came a voice behind us. We turned to see Mikey running through the entrance. "Was the baby born yet? Am I too late?"

"Mikey? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the clinic?" I asked, although I was thrilled to see my pal.

"I got released," he said, grinning. "Just an hour ago, to be precise. I only have to go to therapy there a couple of times a week, but other than that, I'm completely free!"

We all congratulated Mikey, and then went to sit down in the waiting area.

Nearly two hours had passed when Gus finally came out to us. We all jumped up.

"Hey," I said. "Is everything alright? We got here as soon as you called."

"Lauren's fine," he said. "Now. She was having problems when we first got here. The baby's heart-rate kept increasing during contractions; it was stressed, so the doctor had to do an emergency C-section."

"So, is the baby okay?"

Gus grinned. "Yup. Both of them."

"Oh, thank God that-What? Both of them?"

"Lauren had twins," Gus said. "A boy and a girl. The boy's older by two minutes."

"Wow!" Spinelli said. "Way to go, Gus!"

"Yeah, man, that's great," Vince said, high-fiving Gus. He looked happy for the first time since Gretchen left…

"So can we see the babies?" Mikey asked. "I can't wait any longer!"

"Yeah, come on," Gus laughed. He led us up the fourth floor and into Lauren's room.

Lauren's aunt was already there, along with Gus's mom. Lauren was lying on the bed. She looked tired, but very happy. And in her arms were two small bundles.

"They're so tiny," Spinelli said, cooing over the newborns.

"Such preciousness," Mikey said.

"Have you named them yet?" Vince asked.

"Yup," Lauren nodded. "This little guy," she smiled down at her son. "Is going to be named Brent Tyler Griswald-Jacobs, and this sweetie, she looked down at her daughter. "Is going to be named Sarah Marie Griswald-Jacobs."

"Catchy," I said. "I like them."

"Do you guys want to hold them?" Gus asked.

We all nodded. Lauren handed me Brent, and Vince Sarah. After a few moments, I passed Brent to Mikey and Vince passed Sarah to Spinelli.

We stayed with Lauren until visiting hours were over at eight. The hospital only allowed one person to stay the night with her, and her aunt asked if she could do it.

I was in such a good mood over the birth of my friend's healthy twins that I treated everyone to a milkshake at Kelso's, and then we decided to go see the new Senior Fusion movie that had just opened up last week. The graphics were lame and the lead actor was terrible, but we all enjoyed ourselves. I finally got home at a little past eleven. My mom was a little upset that I missed my curfew without even calling, but once I told her about the twins she forgot all about it and started bombarding me with questions about how cute they were. After that I headed back to my room and lay down on my bed. If felt really weird though, doing all those things tonight without Gretchen. I wondered if Spinelli had gotten in touch with her yet…I sighed. I still felt guilty about not being able to fix that whole situation. I really hoped that Gretchen and Vince would sort things out; I knew Vince would never be himself again until they did…

But still, I thought, leaning back on my pillows, looking at things in perspective, I'd say things were going pretty good right now. Gus and Lauren had two healthy children, Mikey was out of rehab, and Spinelli and I were never happier. I guess for teenagers like us, we had to accept our loses and focus on the happy things like those…

...

AN- Yes, that was the last chapter. But don't worry: I'm already working on the sequel to this. It's going to be called "Let the Hard Times Roll In". It should be up by tomorrow. I just want to thanks to everyone who has followed this story and reviewed. You guys helped me so much. I hope you all enjoyed the story; I had a lot of fun writing it!


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